you read down a bit farther and find this...
In a briefing with reporters Friday, administration officials said the new efforts are not designed to help all troubled borrowers, but rather those who stand the best chance of recovering. That approach, they said, should help further stabilize the housing market and the economy at large.
"We're not going to stop every foreclosure. It wouldn't be fair. It would be too expensive, and it probably wouldn't succeed anyway," said Diana Ferrell, deputy director of the National Economic Council, which advises the president.
The administration's plan, to be implemented over several months, requires lenders to slash jobless borrowers' payments for three to six months, adopting a strategy used by the industry and applying it more broadly.
"The banks simply haven't been doing it as much as they should," said Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), a longtime supporter of this approach. "The unemployed are fully deserving of this help."
Many housing advocates said they appreciated the administration's effort. But some were disappointed that parts hinge on lenders' voluntary participation.
Bold added by me.
Now what I see is another bailout for well to do folks, how are they going to determine who that is currently unemployed is most likely to find employment and have "the best chance of recovering?"
Secondly, its entirely voluntary. As was the last program that according to the article was intended to target 400,000 homeowners but only succeeded with 35. . . .yes, you read that right 35.
This approach is similar to one embraced by another FHA program, launched in late 2008, which managed to refinance only 35 borrowers instead of the 400,000 originally expected.
Well, I was kind of excited about this because I was thinking, y'know after nearly 2 years unemployed, and about to default across the board, a suspension of the loan for six months would've been great, and perhaps if the job market improved, I might just manage to not be days late and dollars short. Now I'm not so sure. How do I prove I have a chance to recover? I can't. For every job I'm qualified for there are 100-150 resumes, and each job is down to requiring BAs, CPAs, and 5 years experience at friggin $30K a year. And some at that level of qualification are actually having to take those jobs if they're "lucky" enough to get one.
So much for my one day of hope.