The U.S. Treasury Department just issued rules this morning allowing troubled homeowners the opportunity to do a loan modification.

A parallel story line is that the House is coming closer to voting on legislation (maybe tomorrow?) that would allow bankruptcy judges to “cram down” loan terms on lenders. One potential provision to this legislation is that homeowners must first have attempted to do a loan modification prior to seeking relief in bankruptcy court.

First off, here is the U.S. Treasury announcement of the “Relief for Responsible Homeowners” plan.

Second, here is a Summary of the Guidelines (2 page pdf file).

And finally, here are the complete and detailed Modification Program Guidelines (17 page pdf file).