President Obama's effort to save families from foreclosure got off to a slow start but is picking up some momentum.

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

As of mid-September, the Treasury Department said more than 571,000 loan modification offers had been extended and more than 360,000 homeowners had begun trial modifications.

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 can'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. A 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.

When the government released its first monthly report detailing the program's progress in early August it showed how poorly the biggest banks were doing.

Wells Fargo had begun modifying just 6% of its eligible mortgages. Bank of America only 4%. JPMorgan Chase a more acceptable, but still disappointing, 20%.

"Hopefully, the pressure from the Treasury and public scrutiny will stimulate the underperforming servicers to do better," says Alan White, assistant professor of law at Valparaiso University Law School.

Homeowners seeking government help will fall into one of 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 -- the two, government-owned companies that provide most of the money banks and mortgage companies use for home loans.

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 also have been made on or before Jan. 1 of this year and the 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.

By Erin Brereton

Interest.com Contributing Editor