The Progress on Loan Modifications Isn’t Quite What It Seems

Salmon notes that the purpose of the report is “to document the number of struggling homeowners already helped under the program, provide information on servicer performance and expand transparency around the initiative.” Treasury officials told The Wall Street Journal they were encouraged by the program’s early results, even though only about 9 percent of eligible borrowers have received trial loan modifications so far.

The bigger problem, Salmon writes, is that the Treasury’s report “seems to have more spin than transparency.” How so? Well, the graph accompanying the report refers to “cumulative” progress made on loan modifications.