Treasury officials said yesterday that the Obama Administration's foreclosure prevention program has so far only provided help to about 4 percent of troubled borrowers, according to a report by CNNMoney.com.

A nearly equal number of trial modifications have been denied permanent assistance for not making monthly payments on time, not submitting all the required paperwork and not having sufficient income, the report maintained.

The report said that loan servicers have converted 31,382 people from trial adjustments to long-term assistance as of November 30, but 30.650 people in trial modifications have been denied.

The article said that "The dearth of permanent modifications has fueled concerns that the $75 billion plan will fall far short of its goal to help up to 4 million delinquent homeowners," adding that "The number of troubled borrowers currently in trial modifications rose to 697,026, up from 650,994, a month earlier."

Phyllis Caldwell, chief of Treasury's Homeownership Preservation Office, said that "Our focus now is on working with servicers, borrowers and organizations to get as many of those eligible homeowners as possible into permanent modifications."

Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Herbert Allison told the House Finance Services hearing Tuesday that "We'e not satisfied yet with how this program is unfolding," adding that "The servicers have a lot of work to do, and we're holding them accountable for their performance."

Last week, the administration announced it was ramping up its oversight of loan servicers' conversion operations, the article said, "sending in SWAT teams to break up any logjams, and requiring banks to submit updates twice daily on their efforts. Administration officials called financial executives to Washington this week to urge them to quicken the conversion pace."

The announcement came shortly after a report by RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed properties, indicated that foreclosure filings fell 8 percent in November, the fourth monthly decline in a row.

Delinquent borrowers, under the administration's plan, are put into "trial modifications" for several months to make sure they can handle the new payments and to give them time to submit their financial paperwork. Once the modification becomes permanent, servicers, investors and homeowners are eligible to receive thousands of dollars in incentive payments, according to the article, adding that "If they qualify for a long-term modification, borrowers can keep making the lower payments for five years, after which time the interest rate is set at the rate at the time of the adjustment, or about 5 percent today. Borrowers in modifications are saving an average of more than $550 a month."

Some 375,000 people should be able to get long-term relief by year's end, but only one-third of homeowners who have made at least three trial payments have submitted all the needed forms, Treasury officials have said, adding that some 20 percent have not submitted any paperwork and banks and government agencies have hired outside companies to knock on borrowers' doors to assist them with completing the paperwork.

Homeowners, according to the article, maintain, however, that their financial institutions are constantly losing the paperwork.