Local Workshops Provide Assistance to 2,500 SoCal Homeowners

Representatives from more than a dozen mortgage servicers, along with local HUD-approved housing counselors, were on hand last week in Anaheim and San Bernardino, California to help struggling homeowners with their mortgages.
[IMAGE] The four days of events saw 2,576 at-risk homeowners come through the doors to learn what they can do to lower their mortgage payments and avoid foreclosure. It also afforded homeowners the chance to bring in any documents needed to complete applications for the Obama administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).

The workshops were hosted by the ""HOPE NOW Alliance"":http://www.hopenow.com, ""NeighborWorks America"":http://www.nw.org, and the federal government's ""Making Home Affordable"":http://makinghomeaffordable.gov program.

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""HOPE NOW has participated in face-to-face events in Southern California five times since October of last year,"" said Faith Schwartz, executive director of HOPE NOW. ""Our servicer members have worked hard on the ground to work directly with at-risk borrowers and we feel like we are making progress, even in these hardest hit housing markets. We…appreciate the efforts of our non-profit and government partners in making these events successful and meaningful.""

One homeowner from Mission Hills, California, attended the May 11th event in Anaheim and left with good news from her mortgage servicer.

""We've been living on just one income for a while, since my husband was laid off from his construction job and it has been difficult to make our mortgage payments. We were rejected for a loan modification once, but I heard about the event and decided to come and meet with my bank. I met with Citi and the representative was able to put us into a loan modification that reduces our payments by almost $800 a month,"" the homeowner said.

The free homeownership preservation events led by HOPE NOW continue, with workshops scheduled for May 24 in Columbus, Ohio; May 26 in Kansas City, Missouri; June 2 in San Francisco, California; and June 3 and 4 in Oakland, California.