HOUSTON -- Local 2 Investigates the federal bailout that's supposed to help homeowners facing foreclosure.

Right  now, one in eight mortgages is delinquent or in foreclosure. That's about 7 million homes nationwide.

The federal government is giving billions to banks and lenders so they will help homeowners out of bad loans they can't afford. But tonight Local 2 investigative reporter Amy Davis is asking if your tax dollars are helping Houston homeowners or just giving banks another helping of your cash.

The phrase "sold on the courthouse steps" usually means "foreclosure." In Harris County, it all happens downtown in front of the Family Law building.

"I never heard anything from Chase, except the day before the sale of the house," said Stephanie Cargle. "They wanted $1,500 to stop the sale."

The sale was a surprise to Cargle because Chase Bank told her it was considering her for a loan modification where she would actually see her monthly mortgage payments go down.

"If you were already thinking you were working on a loan modification, you were thinking the next thing you were going hear from them is what?" asked Davis.

"That I'll be approved for the loan modification and just start making payments and own the house again," said Cargle.

That was also the hope of Congress; but not just for Cargle's loan. In March, lawmakers designated $75 billion to help lower the monthly mortgage payments of borrowers facing foreclosure. The program is called "Making Home Affordable."

"There's no such thing as making something affordable when you tell them that they've incurred a significant amount, thousands and thousands of dollars, and some kind of penalties and fees that the homeowner can't afford," attorney Chris Collings said.

To understand how Cargle got to this point, we have to back up to September 2008 and Hurricane Ike. Like many people in southeast Texas after Ike, Cargle lost her job. She asked Chase for a deferment, a three month break from payments until she could find work.

"What did they say?" Davis asked Cargle.

"Sure," Cargle said Chase told her. "You're in the disaster area. We can help you out."

But when Cargle was ready to start making payments three months later, Chase told her she not only owed all three months, but also late fees that totaled $15,507.56.

"Why would I call and ask for a deferment and say, 'No, let's just wait and make this one lump sum?'" Cargle asked rhetorically.

When Cargle couldn't pay the lump sum all at once, Chase sent her a notice letting her know she might be eligible for President Barack Obama's new "Making Home Affordable" program.

The notice reads, "We are ready to do everything possible to help you keep your home."

But in the weeks and months that followed, Cargle said that's not what happened.

"There was so many different people," Cargle recalled of everyone she spoke to. "Nobody knew what was going on. Every time I called it was somebody new. They didn't know who the previous person I talked to was, even though the previous person had asked me to ask for them."

"I think she's a victim of the process," said Collings.

Collings is representing Cargle in court, trying to help her keep her home that Chase sold even when it said it was processing her application for a loan modification.

The entire loan modification program is now under scrutiny by a Congressional Oversight Panel that just last week released a report that reads, "Many borrowers are facing long hold times and repeated transfers and disconnections on the telephone, lack of timely responses, lost paperwork and incorrect information from servicers."

Under the program, loan servicers and lenders get incentives -- up to $4,000 for each loan they modify. Your tax dollars also help to lower the monthly payment for borrowers who qualify.

After seven months, Local 2 Investigates wanted to know how many people are benefiting from "Making Home Affordable." And how much is it costing you?

The answer? To date, we've spent $27 billion to modify 1,711 loans. That's $15,780,245.47 per loan.

To be fair, 417,325 loans are in temporary loan modifications.

If homeowners make the new lower payment for three consecutive months, the modification will become permanent. If that happens, that's still $64,433 per loan, which made us wonder if the program is really working.

"It is more or less providing a kind of smokescreen," said Geoff Walsh of the National Consumer Law Center.

Walsh said that even though lenders and servicers are receiving your tax dollars to help homeowners facing foreclosure, no one is watching to make sure homeowners who do qualify are getting the help they need.

"It provides just about complete, ultimate discretion to mortgage servicers to grant or deny a mortgage modification whenever they want to," explained Walsh.

No one from Chase would talk with us on camera, but a spokesman sent this statement: "We have made terrific progress as we have ramped up, but we know we have more to do."

"They can't be pinned down," said Walsh. "There aren't transparent, objective standards in these programs to make them accountable."

The U.S. Treasury, the federal department responsible for the program, sent us this statement: "Borrower concerns are real and, while hundreds of thousands of trial loan mods are under way, we are working expeditiously to identify new ways to improve this process."

According to the oversight study, more than two-thirds of eligible borrowers missed their opportunity to avoid foreclosure.

"This isn't just some mass paper push," said Collings. "It effects the actual homes and lives of people that make up their customer base."

"I hope to keep my home," said Cargle. "That's the whole thing. That's all. That's all I want."

This oversight panel urges the Treasury to hold banks and lenders accountable when they refuse to modify loans that qualify, or when lenders change loans on paper that do little to lower the monthly payments for borrowers.

The Treasury said it's working on ways to better enforce the rules of the program. Only time will tell if that happens; and it's time some homeowners don't have.

The Treasury's goal is to have 500,000 loans modified by Nov. 1. It says between 3 and 4 million people are eligible for loan modifications under the program.