Very little of the 75 billion dollars the banks received from the stimulus package has been used to help borrowers who are in trouble with their mortgages. The government has decided to try to pressure the banks to approve more loan modifications to provide foreclosure relief to borrowers. It’s about time they did something, but is it possibly too little, too late?

Let’s see, 75 billion dollars is enough to buy 750,000 houses for $100,000 each, so surely at least that many people have been helped with all that money, right? Actually, no. The total number of homeowners who have gotten permanently modified loans as a result of the program is only around 1,700.

There are around 375,000 people who should qualify for the loan modifications but over 60%, or 225,000, of them have not turned in their paperwork or have turned in only part of the paperwork. But are the people who did turn in their forms doing any better? It sure doesn’t look like it.

If over 225,000 people didn’t complete their forms, there were a bit fewer than 150,000 who did. About 50,000 of the people who completed their applications have not heard anything yet. Of the 100,000 who have, roughly 1. 7% actually got permanent modifications to their loans. That’s a pretty pathetic figure.

The government is now trying to get banks to get more loan modifications processed. SWAT teams are being sent to the banks from the Treasury Department to oversee how the banks are handling the loan modification applications. The department plans to publish a list of lenders that are not doing enough to help borrowers next week in order to get them to approve more modifications.

It looks like the much needed foreclosure relief that was promised by the government is moving slowly. Making the program voluntary was a huge mistake that government officials really should have seen coming. Is it any big surprise that mortgage companies don’t want to reduce the amount of money they are owed and take a smaller profit on those mortgages? Everyone looks out for their own bottom line, and that especially includes mortgage companies.

For help with home loan modification contact a qualified loan modification attorney that will look out for you and your family’s best interest such as Janian and Associates.