By Shaila DeWan | The New York Times
Banks and other mortgage servicers have accepted $815 million in taxpayer-funded incentives for helping homeowners who have since redefaulted on their home loans, a watchdog for the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, reported on Wednesday.
More than a third of homeowners who received loan modifications under TARP’s mortgage modification program have since stopped paying, but servicers kept the money they received for modifying those loans, according to a report by Christy L. Romero, the special inspector for TARP.
Many of the homeowners received scant relief, with a large majority benefiting from a reduction of less than 10 percent on their monthly payments, according to an analysis by Ms. Romero’s office.