President Obama's effort to save families from foreclosure got off to a slow start.

Making Home Affordable was supposed to help as many as 4 million borrowers lower their mortgage payments and keep their homes by 2011.

The Treasury Department said the pace was picking up in mid-2009, when more than 400,000 loan modification offers had been made and about 230,000 trial modifications had begun.

There have been two main problems:

Problem 1: The banks and mortgage servicing companies that must make the program work haven't hired enough staff to deal with the crush of applicants or shown much enthusiasm for the effort. Some critics say that's because they make huge fees from the foreclosure process.

Problem 2: Too many families couldn't qualify because they are carrying much more debt than anyone could possibly afford on their current income and owe far more than their homes are worth. They need more help than the program was designed to provide.

That doesn't mean you should give up.

The president keeps tweaking the rules to allow more families to qualify. The most recent change allows homeowners to refinance up to 125% of the value of the homes -- up from 105% in the original plan.

Then Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called more than two dozen mortgage servicing companies to a meeting where he demanded they hire more staff and they agreed to a new goal -- rework 500,000 loans by Nov. 1.

But you should still be prepared for the same delays and frustrations homeowners trying to negotiate with their lenders have had to put up with ever since the housing crisis began.

You'll be able to choose from two programs:

Home Affordable Modification is for borrowers who are behind on their payments or in danger of missing payments and in immediate danger of foreclosure. It will last until the end of 2012.

Home Affordable Refinance is for borrowers who are current on their payments but can't refinance out of high-cost loans because they don't have enough equity. This part will end in June 2010.

To qualify for either program:

Your loan must be owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Since the government-owned companies provide most of the money banks and mortgage companies use for home loans, the odds are in your favor.

To find out, call the mortgage servicing company you send your check to each month or contact:

• Fannie Mae at 1-800-7FANNIE (8 a.m.-8 p.m. EDT) or go online.
• Freddie Mac at 1-800-FREDDIE (8 a.m.-8 p.m. EDT) or go online.

(Loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Administration can be modified under similar programs.)

Your loan must have been made on or before Jan. 1 of this year.

The principal balance must be no more than $729,750.

There is no limit on how much you can earn.

Here's where to learn more about what you must to do to qualify, and how you can benefit from, the:

Home Affordable Modification program.

Home Affordable Refinance program.