There is growing dissatisfaction with the mortgage-relief programs that are now in operation. In the first place, all of these programs — HOPE NOW, Project Lifeline, FHASecure — admittedly limit their support to narrow categories of homeowners, leaving out in the cold many others who appear to be equally deserving.

Twenty-one Democratic members of Congress, led by Rep. Paul Kanjorski ( Pa.), have written the Secretaries of Education and the Treasury warning that the current credit market upheavals could threaten the availability of loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP).

Encouraged by the Bush administration, the nation’s largest mortgage lenders and servicers continue to ratchet up their efforts to cool the subprime meltdown plaguing the industry. On February 12, at a press conference with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and HUD Secretary F Alphonso Jackson, six HOPE NOW alliance members — Bank of America, Chase, Citigroup, Countrywide, Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo — introduced a new outreach effort.

Major challenges still lay ahead for the implementation of the HOPE NOW alliance plans, according to a recent progress report from Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr.