The Treasury Department announced that they are planning to rate mortgage companies on how they treat customers regarding the $75 billion foreclosure relief effort. This report is suppose to come out in July. There are more than 100 companies involved in this program, which was designed to help up to 4 million borrowers avoid foreclosure.

Surprisingly, (I am being sarcastic), they found out that the companies were not helping the families they way they were suppose to. The only way to make the companies wake up is to get them where it hurts, the government will withhold incentives or demand repayment of the money they gave the banks to help the people. You would think the government should have made this a requirement when it started. The government only reacts after the fact.

If they don't comply with the program's rules, he said, "We will withhold incentives or demand their repayment."

This program was suppose to lower borrowers' monthly payments by reducing mortgage rates to as low as 2 percent for five years and extending loan terms to as long as 40 years. Mortgage companies get taxpayer incentives to reduce borrowers' monthly payments. Homeowners have to complete at least three months of payments to qualify for permanent loan modifications.

It was reported that approximately 231,000 homeowners have completed this process so far. That's about 20 percent of the 1.2 million borrowers who started the program over the past year. I would imagine that once again it is a "frustrating" process dealing with the banks. I know as a Realtor dealing with the short sales and foreclosures is literally a nightmare.

The government needs to monitor the banks and make sure that these banks have qualified knowledgeable individuals to help the person trying to take on this daunting task, while possibly losing their home. Whatever happened to the compassion and just talking to people face to face. Everything is done through a phone system, no human contact or the computer and once again, no human contact. Let's get back to basics and start speaking to each other.