Foreclosures are at an all time high.

The number of Americans late on their mortgage payments are up dramatically from 2006.

The looming crisis prompts President Bush to take unprecedented action, announcing a deal to freeze interest rates on so-called sub-prime mortgages set to spike in coming months.

But, as Ali Velshi reports, the plan helps some homeowners, but not others.

To qualify, you need to have an income, and you need to live in your home. And you need to have been making your payments on time.

You also have to be able to show that if your interest rate were to adjust higher, you wouldn't be able to afford it.

You also have to have taken your adjustable-rate mortgage between Jan. 1, 2005, and July 31, 2007, and the rate has to be set to adjust between Jan 1, 2008, and July 31, 2010.

And that's not all, there are lots of rules: you wont qualify if you're not current on your loan, and you'd have to be able to afford an interest rate increase, if you don't have an income or if your home if worth less than the mortgage on it.

Banks don't love this idea, but its probably a good business decision. This way they'll get some interest rather than no interest, and they wont get stuck with close to a quarter of a million foreclosed homes.

Reactions to the plan are mixed.

Some feel that it rewards bad decisions, saying that no one forced anyone to buy a house or take a mortgage.

On the other side, its clear now that some borrowers were misled about the possibility of interest rates going up and home prices going down, and some property estimators may have been pushed by lenders into providing valuations that were too high.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says the Bush administration proposals are a welcome step to protect Americans from the consequences of unnecessary foreclosures.

President Bush's plan freezes interest rates on some subprime mortgages for five years.