The Obama administration sought to expand its $50 billion plan to reduce home foreclosures, announcing a new program on Tuesday to help troubled homeowners modify second mortgages or piggyback loans.

Under the new plan, the Treasury Department will offer cash incentives and subsidies to lenders who agree to substantially reduce the monthly payments on second mortgages or forgive those loans entirely.

The goal of the plan is to plug a hole in the administration’s original program, which offered subsidies to lenders who agreed to modify the primary or first mortgages of homeowners who had fallen delinquent or were in danger of doing so.

New York Times