The Treasury Department said on Friday that the U. S. Home Affordable Modification Program surpassed the one million mark for modified mortgages in February.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that the program, designed to provide incentives to lenders to help struggling homeowners negotiate reduced mortgage payments, included 168,703 households with loan modifications considered permanent, up 45 percent from January, and 835,194 in the so-called trial stage.

Those homeowners, who keep up payments three months into the program, are considered permanent.

Homeowners with modified loans saved more than $2.7 billion, with average monthly payment reductions of $519, the Treasury Department said.

Either because they did not qualify or could not keep up with payments, 90,000 households had quit the program, the department said.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the program, which began in April 2009 has been criticized as slow and reaching only a limited number of homeowners. The goal is to modify 3 million to 4 million loans by 2012.

The Journal further said that eight million homeowners are behind on payments. (With Inputs from Agencies)