Obama's mortgage relief program gaining traction

The plan, launched with great fanfare in March, had been slow to get going, but more than 571,000 loan modification offers, or 19 percent, have been sent to nearly 3 million eligible homeowners. That's up from 15 percent at the end of July.

More then 360,000 borrowers, or 12 percent of those eligible, have signed up for three-month trials, according to the Treasury Department report Wednesday. The modifications reduce their monthly payments to more affordable levels.