Out Of The Frying Pan...

...into the mortgage default. The newest report out this week from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency shows that when the feds stepped in an intervened with mortgage payments to keep people in their houses, a large percentage ended up back behind in their mortgage payments again, sometimes within only a few months.

The OCC found that 58 percent of borrowers who received a modification in the first quarter have since missed at least one monthly payment. In the more recent group of borrowers who received modifications in the second quarter, 51 percent have missed a payment. The finding was based on data provided to the OCC and its sister regulator, the OTS, by 14 of the nation's largest banks, which account for about 60 percent of the mortgage market.

There's every reason to believe this is representative as a whole of the mortgage situation in the US. As the housing market continues to collapse these problems will continue until the housing market hits bottom, and there's no reason to believe that will happen anytime soon.