BY JAMES R. HAGERTY AND RUTH SIMON

After months of negotiations, Wells Fargo & Co. agreed in February to reduce Cynthia Mason’s mortgage payments by about $300 a month.

But the 49-year-old resident of Volente, Texas, a former school secretary who is unemployed and battling cancer, says her income still falls short of what she needs for medical and legal bills, health insurance, credit cards, a car loan—and the mortgage.

“I think the whole process is a sham,” Ms. Mason said, angry that the San Francisco bank didn’t do more to help reduce her debt load. A Wells Fargo spokeswoman declined to comment on her situation.

As …

It’s not just the house loan that is taking a toll on borrowers, but the car loans, credit card balances and college loans. Typical homeowners getting loan relief under the President’s initiatives spent 44.8 percent of their pretax income on housing prior to loan modification, but when other monthly debt payments were added they were spending 77.5 percent of pretax income.

After loan modification, consumers were spending 31 percent of their monthly pretax income on housing, but still a combined 61.3 percent of income on debt payments.

Ted C. Jones, PhD