If you're behind in your mortgage payments in Oregon, you're not alone. More than ten percent of U.S. mortgages are delinquent, maybe the highest number on record, and the number is rising. More people than ever are thinking about a loan modification, a short sale or foreclosure.

Help was supposed to have been on the way with the $75 billion Home Affordable Modification Program. It's helped a few people, but it has frustrated many more. Some people seeking loan modifications have often been offered something worse than they have. A large number get put on hold--for months. Others have said they are offered one program one day and something else on another day. And so it goes.

Today, Bloomberg news is reporting that the Treasury department is cracking down on non-performing servicers.  Lenders may face consequences, including financial sanctions, for not converting temporary modifications into permanent solutions.

Read the Bloomberg story here.

The purpose of this program was to stop foreclosures, and I hope this new effort puts teeth into the program.

It's also my personal opinion that if Treasury really and sincerely makes these lenders get serious, we may see some meaningful principal writedowns come into the picture.  Stay tuned.