Mortgage Mods Up, But Paperwork Still A Snag For Many

If you're one of the 787,231 people who now has a trial modification, you better be sure your paperwork gets completed on time. People whose deadline was December 31, 2009 received an extension until January 31, but the government says there will be no more extensions.

The good news is that more people are successfully completing mortgage modifications. As of the end of December, 66,465 households completed the modification process, according to Treasury statistics. That's more than double the number of completed mods from November, when federal officials decided to get tough with lenders. Another 46,056 modifications were awaiting final signatures.

Still, underscoring the lingering problems, 48,924 people were denied permanent modifications because they did not make their trial payments, did not complete the necessary paperwork or did not meet the program's criteria.