Bernanke: need to do more to halt foreclosures

"Despite good-faith efforts by both the private and public sectors, the foreclosure rate remains too high, with adverse consequences for both those directly involved and for the broader economy," he said in prepared remarks to a Fed conference on housing and mortgage markets. "More needs to be done."

Bernanke said evidence that homeowner equity is an important determinant of default rates points to a need to write down loan principal to help people stay in their homes.

"Principal write-downs may need to be part of the toolkit that servicers use to achieve sustainable mortgage modifications," he said.

The Fed chairman said a number of proposals -- all using public funds -- hold promise for slowing foreclosure rates.

These include a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp plan that would reward participating lenders by sharing the cost of defaults on restructured loans. The FDIC, the bank regulatory agency that manages the fund that insures bank deposits, says the plan would prevent 1.5 million foreclosures.

(Reporting by Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Neil Stempleman)