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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A $30 billion Obama administration program set up to help troubled homeowners modify mortgages has failed to help the vast majority of homeowners facing foreclosure, a congressional watchdog said Tuesday.
Specifically, the program is expected to prevent roughly 800,000 foreclosures -- significantly less than the 3 to 4 million foreclosures that the White House aimed to stop, and vastly fewer than the 8 to 13 million foreclosures expected by 2012, the Congressional Oversight Panel for the government’s much-maligned $700 billion bailout package said in a report about foreclosures.
“Treasury has tweaked its main foreclosure prevention effort, the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), but the changes have not resolved the panel’s core concerns,” the panel said.
The report comes as Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is set to testify before the panel on Thursday about the bailout package, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Geithner is expected to be grilled with questions about the government’s mortgage modification program and the $50 billion in TARP funds it allocated for foreclosure prevention.
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Video - TARP COP Ted Kaufman delivers the December report
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