Just 9% of eligible homeowners have had mortgage modified

— -- Some of the nation's largest servicers are making minor progress in reworking home mortgages into more affordable monthly payments for financially strapped homeowners.

In total, just 9% of eligible homeowners who are delinquent have gotten a trial mortgage modification under a federal program, according to a report Tuesday by the Treasury Department. The report lists the modification progress of major lenders since the Obama administration first announced a $75 billion housing recovery plan in March.

"We have been disappointed …about the variation in service performance in helping people in a timely fashion and with the respect they deserve," says Michael Barr, Treasury's assistant secretary for financial institutions. "We're going to be requiring ramped up efforts across the board."

Several smaller companies — including American Home Mortgage Servicing and PNC Financial Services Group — have yet to modify a single loan, according to the report.

American Home Mortgage Servicing just started the program on July 22, a spokesman said. PNC, which owns National City, was up and running in early July.

"National City is working with qualified customers to make mortgage modifications available. There are loan modifications in the process," said PNC spokesman Fred Soloman.

So far, about 235,000 trial modifications have begun. If the trial modifications work successfully for three months, they then go into full effect.

During a meeting last month with representatives from 25 major servicers, the government announced its goal reaching 500,000 trial mortgage modifications by Nov. 1.