By Mary Ellen Podmolik Posted Jan. 31 at 4:36 p.m. The number of delinquent Chicago-area borrowers in permanent mortgage loan modifications fell in December for the first time since the government started its program to help troubled consumers keep their homes.

By Mary Ellen Podmolik Posted today at 1:19 p.m. White homeowners in the Chicago area have received more than twice as many permanent loan modifications as African-American homeowners, new data released Monday shows.

Lenders are reluctant to reduce the principal amount owed on loans -- often the only thing that would allow people who have lost their jobs to keep their homes. In addition, many trial loan modifications never become permanent. Paperwork gets inexplicably lost.

Many people who sought help under a federal program created to keep them from losing their homes are instead getting saddled with huge, unexpected bills. Thousands now face a stark choice: Go deeper into debt, or foreclosure.

MINNEAPOLIS – Many people who sought help under a federal program created to keep them from losing their homes are instead getting saddled with huge, unexpected bills. Thousands now face a stark choice: Go deeper into debt, or foreclosure. Lenders routinely approved short-term “trial” loan modifications that reduced payments for desperate borrowers under the umbrella of the Obama administration ...