When the Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP) was introduced, it was designed to help those facing foreclosure to remain in their home. The general idea is to help eligible mortgagees receive a lower monthly payment (modified) that would be no more than 31% of their pre-tax income.

Participation in HAMP is voluntary, and most of America's largest banks chose to participate and signed contracts to do so. Incentives were to be distributed to mortgage servicers to assist an estimated 4 million people in need. According to an article in the New York Times, though, only less than 700,000 mods have been processed.

This government program, unfortunately, has not gone smoothly. The article states that:

• The mortgage servicers weren't prepared to handle the amount of paperwork.
• Homeowners complained that paperwork had been lost (more than once).
• Trial modifications dragged on for months.
• Banks are now facing a new assessment.

And now three of the nation’s largest banks are being penalized for subpar performance -Wells Fargo, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. An evaluation, with a scale of one to three, graded the financial institutions on if they had searched and found eligible homeowners, assessed the eligibility correctly and "maintained effective program management, governance and reporting."

This evaluation resulted in all three banks issuing separate statements. In general, they all said the same thing ... that they are committed to improve their processes and their customer service.

We'll keep an eye on this, with the hopes that those in need of assistance can indeed take advantage of the Home Affordable Mortgage Program and be able to remain in their homes. In today's market, this would be a win for everyone!