Why efforts to stem foreclosures are failing

Updated

As the numbers of foreclosures continue to mount, the Obama administration called loan servicers to a meeting today in Washington to figure out what can be done to save the mortgage-rescue plan. Only 200,000 people have been helped since the plan -- which was supposed to help 4 to 5 million -- was announced. To understand the gravity of the matter and the magnitude of the failure, consider that during the first six months of 2009 alone, 1.5 million people received foreclosure notices.

That certainly appears to be failure by any measure. A big stumbling block was that the program was announced before the rules were in place. Many banks are just now starting their efforts under the Obama plan.

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