Administration: Mortgage program helping 20 percent of eligible homeowners

[Robb]

Source: Washington Post

The number of homeowners getting help under the government's massive foreclosure program is growing, according to government data released Tuesday, but it is still unclear how many of these borrowers may still lose their home.

Under the effort, known as Making Home Affordable, lenders are paid to lower borrower's mortgage payments. The program has struggled since being launched in March with lenders applying it unevenly and slowly throughout the industry.

Through October, 650,994 delinquent borrowers have received help under the program, or 20 percent of those potentially eligible, according to Treasury data. That is up from 487,081 through September. Most of them are in states hardest hit by the housing crisis. For example, about 134,609 of those that have seen their loans modified under the program -- typically through an interest rate reduction -- are in California and another 82,614 are in Florida.

(snip)

And even as the administration says the program is building momentum, lingering questions remain about the efficacy of the $75 billion effort. Economists widely expect nearly 2 million borrowers to lose their home to foreclosure this year. Some have questioned how many of the borrowers who receive a modified loan under the program will default later. Also, it is unclear how well suited the plan is in addressing what many now consider the biggest driver of foreclosures: unemployment. With little or no income, borrowers have fewer options to save their home, housing advocates note.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/10/AR2009111006747.html?hpid=moreheadlines

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$75 billion / 650,994 = $115,208 spent per modification.