Spotlight

Foreclosure Hotline Provides Hope,
One Call at a Time
by Bob Kapel

Our agency, with 16 foreclosure prevention counselors, is one of five that work through the Homeownership Preservation Foundation (www.995hope.org).

We try to help people avoid foreclosure, and we try to help those already in foreclosure to achieve the best possible outcome. Unfortunately, most people wait to call until the situation has escalated or there’s a crisis.

To start, we take a look at their home loan. There are all kinds of loans and many lenders out there, but more than 50 percent of callers are facing foreclosure as a result of an adjustable rate mortgage.

Rate increases are devastating to many sub-prime borrowers. Most had no buffer in their budget. And with many property values declining, homeowners simply don’t have the equity to refinance.

Then we look at what I call “hardship.” Facing foreclosure is usually coupled with things like job loss or cut back in hours, medical bills, short-term disability, a failed business, credit card debt or using credit cards to pay the mortgage, high utility cost, divorce, and high gasoline prices. There is a range of underlying hardships and the mortgage is just icing on the cake.

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