27 January 2010 ? In April 2009, the Obama administration announced a plan to include second mortgages into its foreclosure rescue program. This program is designed to encourage mortgage note holders to reduce interest rates for five years on second mortgages. The government will share in the cost of these reductions or, as an alternative, the government will pay the holders of second mortgages to release that debt. The Treasury Department has not yet issued final guidelines for the program, but despite that, Bank of American has signed on. According to the Wall Street Journal, a spokesman for Bank of America says the company has put more than 200,000 borrowers into trial modifications ? the first stage in getting their loans reworked under the Obama program.