If you’re a homeowner who has an adjustable-rate mortgage, you are probably disappointed that your situation doesn’t qualify for the ARM interest-rate freeze.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr., in his statement to the press, said that “up to” 1.2 million of the 1.8 million homeowners whose subprime ARMs are due to reset in 2008 and 2009 would be “eligible for fast-tracking into consideration for affordable refinanced or modified mortgages.” The 1.2 million figure comes from Hope Now, a coalition of loan servicers, lender trade associations and credit counseling organizations.

But Paulson didn’t quantify how many of those 1.2 million homeowners would be expected to refinance their existing mortgage or how many could qualify for the interest rate freeze that’s supposed to help them avoid foreclosure if they can’t afford their mortgage payments at the reset interest rate.

How many homeowners qualify?
The question of how many homeowners could benefit is important because the plan has been put forward by the Bush administration as a “framework to help preserve communities by preventing foreclosure.” If the actual number turns out to be far fewer than 1.2 million, that objective may not be achieved through this approach.

In fact, the interest rate freeze is targeted toward a relatively small group of homeowners whose situations meet very specific requirements.