Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co., among the worst performers of banks in the U.S. government’s main foreclosure prevention plan, stepped up their pace of mortgage modifications by at least 60 percent in August.

Bank of America more than doubled its number of modifications started through the Making Home Affordable Program to 59,891 in August from July, while Wells Fargo improved by 64 percent to 33,172, the U.S. Treasury said in a report today from Washington. Overall, 47 banks have begun 360,165 modifications through the program, up from about 235,247 in July.

Wells Fargo and Bank of America, which have taken a combined $70 billion in taxpayer-funded aid, had been criticized by lawmakers for not doing enough to offer assistance to struggling homeowners. The banks have cited the time needed to boost staffing in loan servicing departments and government delays in distributing information about the program.

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