From the Rocky Mountain News / AP:

New strategy to rescue troubled mortgages:

The government and the mortgage industry are launching the most sweeping effort yet to help troubled homeowners by speeding up the process for renegotiating hundreds of thousands of delinquent loans held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which seized control of the two mortgage finance companies in September, announced the plan Tuesday along with other government and industry officials, including Hope Now, an alliance of mortgage companies organized by the Bush administration last year.

Read the whole thing. We'll wee if this helps or just increases the number of people who start to default so tey can get a renegotiated mortgage.