HOPE NOW Servicers Assist More than 1,300 Troubled Homeowners

Various ""HOPE NOW"":https://www.hopenow.com/ servicers, including ""Bank of America"":https://www.bankofamerica.com/index.jsp, ""Chase"":http://mortgage.chase.com/pages/shared/gateway.jsp, ""Citi"":https://www.citimortgage.com/Mortgage/Home.do?td, ""GMAC"":http://www.gmacmortgage.com/index.html, ""SunTrust"":http://www.suntrustmortgage.com/, ""Wells Fargo"":https://www.wellsfargo.com/mortgage/, and others, assisted more than 1,300 troubled homeowners during three homeownership preservation events held across the Pacific Northwest last week.

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According to HOPE NOW, 532 families attended the first of the three events, which was held in Portland, Oregon on March 23. And the two events held in Bellevue, Washington (Seattle area) on March 25 and March 26 saw an additional 796 homeowners.

The second day of the workshops in Bellevue was specifically held for the purpose of collecting missing documents needed for Home Affordable Modification Program applications.

""We are pleased that at-risk homeowners in the Portland and Seattle areas made the effort to come out and work towards solutions to their mortgage issues,"" said Faith Schwartz, HOPE NOW executive director. ""Our servicers
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are committed to face-to-face outreach as one of their many tools for keeping as many borrowers as possible in their homes.""

Tim and Rae Engebreston, who attended one of the Bellevue events, were among several homeowners who received on-site results. The couple is facing an unemployment situation but said they are determined to keep their home. Through the homeownership preservation event, the Engebreston's lender--GMAC--was able to reduce their monthly mortgage payments by almost half for the next six months.

""GMAC supports the goal of preserving homeownership and was pleased to work with HOPE NOW and its partners at these events in order to help at-risk homeowners find solutions,"" said Dana Dillard, SVP of mortgage initiatives at GMAC. ""We made our skilled loss mitigators available so that we could reach a decision on-site wherever possible.""

Schwartz said HOPE NOW has now held 69 homeownership preservation events since 2008, assisting more than 59,000 families in a safe, confidential, and free environment. She said these events have been successful because the industry has reached out aggressively and collaborated with the government and nonprofit communities.

The events, which are co-sponsored by the Obama Administration's Making Home Affordable Program and NeighborWorks America, will continue throughout 2010, HOPE NOW said. Specific workshops are already lined up in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada in April, and events in Richmond, Virginia and the New York City area are tentatively scheduled for the same month.