The Treasury Department is pushing the 102 mortgage companies that are participating in the mortgage relief program to do a better job as only 7 percent of the borrowers who signed up last year were provided help.

Since it started in March, about 900,000 borrowers have enrolled in the $75 billion program, the Treasury Department said Friday.

As of last month, only about 66,500 homeowners had received permanent relief. Another 46,000 have been approved is expected to be finalized soon.

The program aims to make affordable the borrowers' mortgages by cutting the mortgage interest rate down to as low as 2 percent.

Under the program, troubled or delinquent borrowers are put into trial modifications for several months to make sure they can manage the new payment scheme and to give them time to submit their financial paperwork.

Temporary modifications are received and are supposed to become permanent after borrowers make three on time payments and have completed necessary paperwork which includes proof of income and a letter explaining the reason for their financial difficulty.

Once the modification becomes permanent, servicers, investors and homeowners are eligible to receive incentive payment amounting to thousands of dollars.

If they qualify for a long-term modification, borrowers can keep making the lower payments for five years, after which time the interest rate is set at the rate at the time of the adjustment, or about 5% today. Borrowers in modifications are saving an average of more than $550 a month.

In the program, Borrowers may be denied long-term help if they don't meet the program's criteria.