Homeowners Still Access Referral Services in Post-Crisis Period

With the lingering effects of the housing crisis, many homeowners still find themselves in need of assistance for home-related services or other basic requirements. The Illinois-based """"MortgageKeeper Referral Services"""":http://www.mortgagekeeper.org/mkSplash.asp recently issued its 2013 Homeowner Needs Status report and found that homeowners received 1,223,000 referrals from the company's MKDirect and MKDesktop technologies in 2013.

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That's the most referrals requested in a single year and double the number of referrals requested just two years ago.

The top five referral categories were local housing and credit counseling requests, utility assistance, employment help, food assistance, and rental housing, according to the company.

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""""MortgageKeeper continues to grow, even as the housing crisis eases,"""" said Rochelle Nawrocki Gorey, president of MortgageKeeper Referral Services. """"This seems like a contradiction, but it speaks to the harshness and longevity of the crisis. The top referral categories in 2013 have consistently included the basics-food, work, and housing. Americans fell hard into debt, and are having a difficult time finding employment or other ways to bounce back.""""

MortgageKeeper Referral Services develop web-based data applications that assist qualified homeowners who are struggling with keeping their homes by connecting them with nonprofit and government agencies that can help them.

The company aims to help families by connecting them to more than 100,000 resources every month, and including a list of exhaustively researched, best-in-class nonprofit and government agencies, which is provided in quick amount of time. MortgageKeeper's research showed that their applications made homeowners resource search easy and efficient.

Subscribers include a top-two mortgage servicer, Ocwen Loan Servicing, Centier Bank, RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing, LoanCare Servicing, and the Homeownership Preservation Foundation's 888.995.HOPE hotline. MortgageKeeper has made more than 3.5 million referrals since its founding in 2005, according to the company.