New Hope for Troubled House Owners Facing Foreclosure in Minnesota
For troubled house owners it is no easy task to ward off foreclosure. A good number at the end of the struggle finally lose their shelter. A pioneering project is promising positive help. The news was first released in FOX9’s morning show.
Driving through the eastern localities of St. Paul it seems clear that the foreclosure crisis has not abated. There are crumbling abandoned houses dotted the neighbourhood – silent witness to the tears of hardworking Americans.
One of the victims is Deb Vruno. She was determined to save the house where she had spent her childhood even if she had to take two or three jobs. Her mortgage problems started when her boyfriend left her. Not being able to manage the payments alone she contacted her lender for help.
She complied with everything the lender asked – filling out and submitting piles of papers including bank statements and salary slips. But nothing worked. For one and a half years she fought in desperation to have the monthly payment lowered only to meet with failure repeatedly.
The case of Vruno is all too common to those working with Minnesota Home Ownership Center Network, a non-profit body. The foreclosure prevention counselor of St. Paul is Michelle Vojacek. Vojacek said, “Our housing counselors would find that the loan servicers would lose the documentation or not receive the documentation. (They would have to) fax things five, six, seven different times”.
A new programme between Minnesota Home Ownership Center Network and Fannie Mae is trying to expedite the modification talks so that they can get the required information from the house owners without delay and endless submission of papers. Julie Gugin of HOC (executive director) said, “We think it’s a sign of a new way for us to be doing business with our lender partners, so this is a big deal”.
Only those holding Fannie Mae mortgages are qualified for this plan. Nevertheless Gugin lauded it as something revolutionary. She is optimistic that other big investors would start off similar projects. She said, “We’re launching our outreach. We’re trying to get our message out that we would like to talk to every Fannie Mae customer in Minnesota whose facing mortgage issues”.
Till now fifty of Fannie Mae’s mortgage holders have benefited from this programme that kicked off from last January. Most of the applicants were able to modify their loans within 30 days or even less numbers days since applying. Previously it dragged on for months and sometimes years. Vruno was one of the first ones to be helped.
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