Three Congressmen Call for HAMP’s End

In more bad news for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), three congressmen, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Patrick T. McHenry (R- North Carolina), and Darrell Issa (R-California) have proposed a ""bill"":http://oversight.house.gov/images/stories/Legislation/JORDAN_005_xml.pdf to end the program.

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Issa is the chairman of the ""Oversight and Government Reform Committee"":http://oversight.house.gov/, and introduced the bill at the committee's first hearing last week. Issa invited Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general of TARP, to speak at the meeting and give his opinion on HAMP.

In the meeting, Barofsky said the program's failure ""has had the most devastating consequences"" for everyday borrowers.

""HAMP is a colossal failure,"" said Rep. Jordan, who is chair of the Oversight subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending.

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He continued, ""In many cases, it has hurt the very people it promised to help. It's one more example of why government interference in the private sector doesn't work and that's why it should be repealed.""

There have been many recent reports circulating that HAMP is not working as well as intended.

Barofsky ""recently"":http://dsnews.comarticles/tarp-inspector-generals-report-says-hamp-is-failing-2011-01-26 released a report to Congress saying that the program ""continues to fall dramatically short of any meaningful standard of success,"" calling the number of permanent modifications that have resulted from the program â€" just over a half million - ""anemic.""

The alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, non-profit counselors, and mortgage insurers that make up HOPE NOW have completed more than double that ""anemic"" number on their own, on Wednesday releasing a figure of 1.24 million proprietary loan modifications in 2010.

Barofsky's report did not advocate repealing HAMP, rather he urged Congress to make necessary changes to the program in order to maximize its potential.

But Rep. McHenry, who chairs the Oversight subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs, thinks enough is enough.

""The number of homeowners kicked out of HAMP â€" and arguably left worse off by participating in the programâ€" exceeds the number actually helped by hundreds of thousands,"" he said. ""Because the administration won't listen to bipartisan calls to fix this program, the only option left is to end it.""