Help for upside down homeowners?

TAMPA - This week, the Obama Admistration announced a plan it says will save millions of homeowners from the mortgage meltdown.

But the current situation doesn't seem to be improving much.

The nation's housing crisis is deepening and the statistics are adding up to a grim picture. In Florida, the news isn't any better. More than 30 percent of mortgage holders in the sunshine state are living a dark reality: they owe more on their homes than what they're even worth.

Tampa Bay Realtor Nathan Bangs says the major depreciation of home values is partly to blame.

"We're down 40 percent. We're back to 2002 pricing so any homeowner who bought after 2003 that didn't re-fi outside of their home, they're upside down," he said.

31 percent of mortgages in Tampa Bay are upside down, meaning they have negative equity. That's even more than what it is nationally -- 20 percent. Homeowners are upside down and behind. At the end of last year, a record 5.4 million, or 12%, of Americans were behind on mortgage payments or worse, in foreclosure.

The Obama Administration believes a mortgage relief plan it unveiled Wednesday could rescue nine million mortgage holders. Struggling homeowners could see interest rates as low as 2 percent and lower payments. The plan also calls for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refinance upside down mortgages, even for homeowners who can afford the payments: but, there's a catch:

"Any of these subprime ARM mortgages or exotic mortgages that people may have gotten into are not backed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Those will not be eligible with the new program," said Scott Strepina, mortgage broker with Benjamin Ruth Mortgage in Tampa.

And Congress is getting involved. The House just passed a new bill that would give bankruptcy courts the power to reduce mortgage payments by slashing interest rates and principal. The Senate will vote on the measure in a couple weeks.

The mortgage relief plan specifies no income limits for homeowners to qualify for re-financing. A treasury spokesperson says a lot of responsible borrowers have ended up "upside down" by no fault of their own.