Foreclosures: Hot Line Hots Up In Atlanta

Posted in Foreclosures, January 9th, 2008 |

A help agency set up to throw out lifelines to sinking foreclosure victims have so many people on their lifeboat that they are sending out calls for more help. This is happening even after Bush administration announced measures of relief. The agency is urgently hunting around for new recruits as managers, counselors and representatives to contact customers. Scott Scredon is the Director of Public Relations for Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta. They will be requiring 130 additional staff. Of the new positions 45 are earmarked for managers and counselors.

Nearly 400,000 people took the help of CCCS in the last year. The anticipation is that this year in 2008 about 60,000 will be seeking support. The main task is for counselors to help the owners from stalling foreclosures.

The Bush plan put a freeze on interest rates for five years for those who were current in their mortgage payments. The idea was to allow distressed borrowers to modify their loans. About 1 million Americans are facing foreclosures. The victims have been advised to contact Hope Now Alliance. The latter is a non-profit amalgam of lenders and investors. CCCS is a part of it.
Since the announcement of the plan the hotline was overwhelmed with calls. It became difficult for them to tackle the deluge with their existing infrastructure. As such they sent out calls for more help. It manages about 1,500 calls per day. The figure has doubled after the media gave coverage. This has compelled CCCS to narrow down their services to those who were delinquent on their mortgage dues. They told the others who were not delinquent, to contact their respective lenders.

The Home Preservation Foundation deals with clients from all the 50 states and refers them to CCCS of Greater Atlanta. It has 18 offices in 4 states. The Hope Now Alliance hotline runs round the clock and provides counseling over the telephone also.

The call of the hour is counseling as most of the foreclosure victims slip into a traumatized state that robs them of the power of sane action. They cannot be blamed considering that the monthly payment schedule is doubled or even trebled. On the other hand with real estate prices falling there is no chance of selling the house and clearing the debt. Counseling can put them back on the rails to take up the cudgels.