Foreclosure Counselors Overworked With Workload

Posted in Foreclosure, December 19th, 2007 |

Since the last twelve months hundreds of house owners have been knocking on the doors of Stephani Rojas – a mortgage counselor. They are desperately seeking help as foreclosures close in on them. The majority comes when they are just about to be evicted. There is a sense of shame for having failed their families and for the same reason they are reluctant to disclose their names, income or expenses. They do not want to say how many instalments they have missed. Some just collapse and shed tears. Stephanie feels that it is akin to talking to disaster victims. The sufferers have no idea about the rules of the game and are just aware that any day the Sheriff’s men will come and throw their belongings out on the road.

It is the same story with counseling agencies right across Lower Hudson Valley. Most of the foreclosure victims are first-time buyers of property with low income and questionable credit who tried to change their lives by taking advantage of the sub-prime ARM’s. Instead they have been gifted with foreclosures when interest rates began to spike.

Veline Acquah is another such foreclosure counselor at Mount Vernon. She underlines the importance of seeking timely help even before receiving the foreclosure notice. Timely intervention is of invaluable importance in these cases. But once the ball starts to roll it is difficult to bring it back. Time is the key.

Sonyma AND FHASecure ae some programmes launched by New York State and Federal Government. These are for those house owners who have taken ARM loans and are not lagging behind more than two months in payments.

Once the counselor has the relevant details from the foreclosure victim – income, expenses and present capability to make payments after granting of concessions, he or she will be able to negotiate with the dealer for a viable amicable solution that will allow the borrower to continue to live in the house that is the home.

The lenders have some options relating to the circumstances of the borrowers – his or her credit ratings, repayment ability and whether the trouble started only when the rates were increased or because of personal reasons like illness or divorce. In other words is the nature of the problem short or long? The answer to all these questions will be matched by the best solution under the circumstances.