Obama Administration, Mortgage Modification | featured news

Answers to questions about the Obama administration's new mortgage modification program.

The average homeowner in the Obama administration's signature foreclosure-prevention program owes more on their mortgage than the home is worth, yet the program does virtually nothing to address this problem, according to a scathing new report by a government watchdog.

Many critics of the Obama administration's mortgage loan-modification program say it won't work because it doesn't do enough to address "negative equity," the plight of people who owe more on their home loans than the current value of those properties. Without equity in their homes, these critics say, borrowers have little incentive to keep paying and are apt to walk away as soon as things get tough, if not before.