Of the 140,562 subprime adjustable-rate mortgages scheduled for a rate reset in January and February, only 2%, or 3,364 loans, received a five-year fast-track modification, according to statistics the Hope Now alliance released Thursday.
The Treasury Department announced the modification plan in December, saying that 600,000 loans could be eligible for a five-year rate freeze. At that time critics said the number was likely overblown.
The statistics released Thursday represented Hope Now's first attempt to offer data on how many borrowers received a freeze.
However, the alliance also said that 43% of subprime ARMs facing a reset in the first two months of the year were refinanced or paid off through a sale, and 2,243 others received a modification but not a five-year rate freeze.
Steve Bartlett, the president of the Financial Services Roundtable, said lower interest rates meant fewer people required an interest rate freeze.
"This automatic reset to the introductory rate turned out to be virtually irrelevant, because people didn't have their rates change because of the Fed's rate reset," he said. "The five-year fast-track need has been made moot."
