Hope now, coming soon

Major mortgage companies and the federal government held another press conference yesterday to talk about helping troubled borrowers. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports this morning that the Hope Now hotline, touted this fall as a source of help for homeowners, has provided counseling to just 36,000 people in the last two months. That is well behind hopes and projections.

The Hope Now hotline has received a great deal of attention, including multiple mentions in the Globe. It is also used by the state as the number Massachusetts residents must call to participate in its refinancing program.

But we've been hearing stories for some time from borrowers who are frustrated when they do call. Some operators knew nothing about the Massachusetts program. Others seemed ill-equipped to answer basic questions about loans.

The Journal reports the hotline received 176,000 calls, but only provided counseling to 36,000 borrowersm, of which 10,000 were referred to lenders for a loan modification. It is not clear how many actually got a modification. From the Journal's story:

The hotline's backers say the program's function is to connect borrowers with their mortgage servicer -- not work on behalf of the borrower. "We facilitate a conversation," says Colleen Hernandez, executive director of the Homeownership Preservation Foundation. "We wouldn't characterize ourselves as advocates where we are trying aggressively to convince the lender to do something."

It's hard to imagine why that wouldn't be working.