The Congressional Oversight Panel, set up to police the U.S. $700 billion bailout of financial markets, said in a report last week expressed doubts that the “scale, scope, and permanence” of the Treasury Department’s Making Home Affordable Modification Program would adequately protect U.S. homeowners. The Treasury had previously said HAMP would help prevent as many as 4 million foreclosures with loan modifications through approved servicers and lenders.
“Rising unemployment, weak home prices, and impending mortgage rate resets still threaten to cast millions of Americans out of their homes, with devastating effects on families, local communities, and the broader economy,” the report said, noting that one in eight U.S. mortgages was currently in foreclosure or default, ultimately producing “10 to 12 million foreclosures.”
