Organized Help Against Foreclosures

Posted in Foreclosure, January 7th, 2008 |

The Minneapolis Urban League and Minnesota Acorn teamed together to form SHARC or the Sustainable Homeownership and Anti-foreclosure Response Center to help foreclosure victims.
Trouble started with the sub-prime loans being sold to large number of gullible borrowers who did not have proper credit records. The rates of many of these loans are floating upwards, causing thousands to default and face foreclosures.

Acorn’s regional director commented that although foreclosures are not inevitable nevertheless of late this has become the predominant trend. The main concern of the organization is to keep the families under their own hearth and home. A modest group collected in North Minneapolis for latest news and announcements about foreclosure. The victims were urged not to despair but to look around for help.

73-year-old Whitson attended the meeting because both her niece and daughter-in-law are in the same boat tossing in the middle of foreclosure waves. She was keen to know of the available services.

Jim Jackson of North Minneapolis said that he had got positive help from Acorn. He had bought their house in 1994 to refinance it in 2002 because urgent financial help was required for the father of his wife who was sick in Nigeria. The loan pusher took advantage of the situation and pressed Jim to ink the papers because the special offer was only for 24 hours. The net result was that the monthly payments shot up from $800 to $1,400. In another two years it further rose to $2,100. Acorn helped them to change to a long-term loan of 30 years and keep their house. He however lost his equity but nevertheless foreclosures could not touch him. Today Jim Jackson is an active volunteer of the organization.

According to Acorn statistics about 3,442 sub-prime loans were sanctioned during 2006 in the Twin cities. The numbers are on the lower side. The Center for Responsible Lending calculates that 19% of sub-prime loans contracted during 2005 to 2006 will end up with foreclosures.
The newly set up Sharc, on 2100 Plymouth Avenue will be functioning from 6pm to 8 pm on Tuesdays and 10 am to noon on Saturdays. Enquiries and appointments can be made over the phone. It is hoped that the setting up of such official help organizations will serve three purposes – it will psychological help victims overcome trauma, keep in check fraudsters and prevent foreclosures in many instances.