The government wants to ”light a fire” under lending institutions to speed up the process of transitioning homeowners with trial loan modifications to permanent status. The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) has assisted more than 650,000 homeowners with loan modifications. However, a little more than half of those struggling homeowners are set to convert to permanent loan modifications before the end of 2009.

Both the Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will “implement new outreach tools and borrower resources” to help speed up the conversion process.

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