Facing a rising tide of home foreclosures, the Obama Administration is pushing mortgage servicing companies to more than double the industry’s mortgage modifications by Nov. 1.

After a daylong meeting with 25 servicers at the Treasury Department, the Administration for the first time announced a specific goal for modifications by the industry under the Treasury’s $75 billion Home Affordability Modification Program -- 500,000 by November.

When the White House announced the program in February, it said HAMP could help up to three million to four million struggling homeowners. But so far, servicers have approved just 200,000 of them for the program -- and all of the modifications are still in 90-trial periods.

Meantime, fueled in part by rising unemployment, lenders have pushed 1.5 million homeowners into the foreclosure process, according to a recent RealtyTrac report. Government officials predict that up to six million homes could be lost to foreclosure in the current economic crisis. Administration officials have been frustrated by the pace of the HAMP ramp-up. 

“We are on track to meet our goals,” said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in a statement after the session with servicers. “Still, too many homeowners are at risk of foreclosure right now. Today’s meeting was an opportunity to identify ways to accelerate the program and bring relief faster.”

The Financial Services Roundtable, a trade group representing several of the servicing companies, said it believed that the Administration’s new goal of 500,000 trial modifications by November was “attainable” and that the companies “will continue [their] ongoing efforts to achieve that goal.”

The Treasury meeting was attended by executives from JPMorganChase (JPM) Wells Fargo (WFC), Citigroup (C) and other banks and firms. The companies process monthly mortgage payments -- as well as manage foreclosures -- for their own mortgage portfolios and for mortgages held by private investors like pension funds and hedge funds.

An Administration official said that servicers came to the meeting with proposals for changing HAMP, which the official declined to disclose. But the official said “changes are possible” in the program, mainly “around the edges.” 

“Together with [Housing and Urban Development] and Treasury, servicers are looking at ways in which (they) can simplify requirements and implement new technologies that will help streamline the process of aiding consumers,” the Financial Services Roundtable said. The organization also said servicers and other financial firms have helped more than four million homeowners since 2007, mainly through voluntary in-house mortgage programs, “with over 1.5 million of those since January 2009.”

In most modifications, within or outside of HAMP, servicers reduce monthly payments by agreeing to lower interest charges for several years.  

The Administration official, as well as some industry sources, declined to predict how many of the customers in trial HAMP modifications could win approval for permanent fixes.  Further, the program does little to help the fastest-growing group of homeowners facing foreclosure -- those that have lost their jobs.

But the Administration official said the Administration is considering new programs to help jobless homeowners temporarily make monthly payments until they find new employment.

“Nothing is really off the table at this point,” the official said.

The Administration also announced three new HAMP initiatives to keep up pressure on the companies to process more loan changes: First, the Treasury it will begin publicly reporting servicer-specific performance in the program, with the first report to be released Aug. 4. Second, it will work with servicers to set metrics that it hopes will better monitor the success of the program. Third, it will instruct Freddie Mac (FRE), one of the government’s mortgage-insurance companies, to take a “second look” at declined applications to make sure homeowners were not rejected by mistake.

In a recent letter to servicers, Geithner and Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan told them that “much more progress is needed” in HAMP. They demanded firms “devote substantially more resources” to HAMP modifications, including adding staff, call centers and training. So far, the Administration has paid the companies $20 billion to modify mortgages. The funds pay for extra servicing costs, as well as for incentives for companies, mortgage holders and homeowners to participate in HAMP.