MarketWatch
Mortgage servicers reject 72% of struggling borrowers from a federal program aimed at creating more affordable monthly mortgage payments so owners can keep their homes, a federal watchdog reported Wednesday.
“All cannot be right,” said the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, a federal bailout enacted in 2008 to protect the U.S. and financial firms from a financial tsunami.
According to the inspector’s quarterly report to Congress, Citigroup Inc. C, -0.48%has rejected 87% of applications for TARP’s Home Affordable Modification Program, which aims to make mortgages more affordable by changing terms, such as interest rates and loan duration. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. JPM, -0.20% has rejected 84% of applications, Bank of America Corp. BAC, -0.08% has rejected 80% and Ocwen Fianncial Corp. OCN, +0.35% has rejected 70%.
