National Black Church Initiative is a subsidiary of the DC Black Church Initiative

WHERE CAN YOU FIND HELP?

There is a lot more assistance out there than there was even a few years ago. A credit counselor may be a good place to start. They will make those negotiation calls to the credit card companies and maybe even to your mortgagee. They are trained and know what to say and can remain emotionally detached during what can be sometimes ugly conversations. There are some bad apples’ in the counseling business. Use one that is approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (search www.hud.gov/counseling for a state by state list) or by the Neighbor Works® organization (www.nw.org.) Be sure to take the checklists in this guide with you and go over each item with the counselor. If the counselor cannot help you with one of the items, ask the counselor where you can go for assistance for the relevant item. Do beware of foreclosure prevention schemes. If someone approaches you with an offer that is too good to be true - be wary. Have any deal offered to you thoroughly checked out by a reputable attorney or organization.

If you have a sub prime mortgage that you cannot afford or any other mortgage, there is some help available. The Federal Reserve has directed banks and other lenders to work with homeowners to avoid foreclosure. National organizations such as the National Fair Housing Alliance, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the NAACP and the National Council of La Raza, have called on lenders to institute a foreclosure moratorium. Congressional leaders and state legislators have asked lenders to implement new programs to provide assistance to homeowners. If your lender is not being helpful in restructuring your loan, here are some other options:

• Contact the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) at 1-800-CALL-FHA. It keeps a list of non-profit counseling agencies that provide advice before and after you purchase a home. The FHA is trying to help holders of sub-prime mortgages refinance into fixed-year FHA loans. For more on qualifying requirements, go to the FHA Resource Center at www.hud.gov/offi ces/hsg/ sfh/fharesourcectr.cfm. The FHA has set up a customer helpline for individuals seeking to refinance there sub-prime mortgages. Also, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency offers this hotline, 1-800-613-6743.
• The Federal Home Loan and Mortgage Corp., or Freddie Mac, announced it will purchase an additional $20 billion in fixed rate and hybrid adjustable rate mortgages to assist lenders restructure loans held by sub-prime borrowers. Freddie Mac’s program will be ready by mid-summer 2008. For information, visit www.freddiemac.com/corporate/buyown/english/owning/avoid(UNDERSCORE)foreclosurehtml.
• The Federal National Mortgage Association also has a hotline to help consumers, 1-800-7FANNIE. A customer service representative can direct your call to a specialist. If a traditional bank institution issued your mortgage, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s consumer hotline is 1-877-275-3342, contact the bank’s federal regulator.
  
  There are four regulatory agencies.
  • Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) consumer hotline: 1-877275-3342
  • Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS): 202-906-6000
  • Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Consumer Hotline: 1-800-613-6743
  • Federal Reserve Board Consumer Hotline: 1-800-333-1010
  • HUD Approved Housing Counseling Agencies: 202-708-1112
  
  
  You can contact your lender to find out which agency regulates the lender.

Obtain a refinance, if feasible. If you can refinance into a fully amortizing, fixed rate, low cost, prime loan, this might be a great option for you. You will need to conduct an assessment of your financial situation to determine if you will derive a benefit from refi nancing. An ethical, experienced loan professional or counseling agency can help you figure this out. If your loan is less than two years old, you may not be able to refinance without paying a prepayment penalty. Your financial circumstances such as credit scores, income, and so forth may not have improved enough to qualify you for a conventional prime loan. Additionally, your house may not have appreciated enough to provide the equity to get you into a conventional loan.

1. Pay your mortgage before any other bill; yes, before credit card bills!
2. Contact your servicer immediately.
3. Re-read your mortgage agreement and have a housing counseling or fair housing organization help you to interpret and understand your contractual responsibilities. Be sure to ask the organization to assess your mortgage to determine if you were the victim of a predatory lending scheme.
4. Contact city, state and/or county goverment and ask what assistance they provide to homeowners who are affected by this crisis.
5. Make a list of all non-profit organizations that deal with housing problems and contact them for assistance. Also, contact your local university to see if they have legal aide or a law clinic that provides assistance to homeowners in financial trouble. Again, remember to ask the law clinic or non-profit organization to assess your loan for predatory lending practices.
6. Make an appointment to see your Pastor to talk about your housing issues. Your Church may operate a program that can provide help. Talk to your spouse about getting additional employment and understand what impact it may have on the family. Also, you may be able to seek assistance from relatives or friends who might be able to give or loan you money to help you meet your mortgage obligation.
7. Determine if you will be able to rent a room in your house to a college student or another reliable and responsible individual.
8. Contact your other creditors and ask if they will work with you over the next 120 days to work out a strategy to save your home.
9. Look at your valuables and see if you are willing to sell a few of them; i.e., an expensive watch, one of the family cars, timeshare property or other reasonably expensive items to help you raise money for your mortgage.
10. Ask your employer if you are able to get a two-month pay advance. You may be able to talk with your company’s financial advisor to see if you can borrow against your retirement. Also speak with your insurance agent to see if you can borrow from your life insurance policy.

• Continue to make your mortgage payments on time because your mortgage obligation is still in effect. Failure to make your payments will result in a delinquency and negatively affect your credit standing. Furthermore it will result in the accrual of late fees and possibly other fees, and could progress to foreclosure.
• A bankruptcy trustee may be responsible for administering the assets of the bankruptcy mortgage company, including receipts of the borrower’s mortgage payments.
• Keep records of your payments and whether checks are being cashed, etc.
• Be sure to open all of your mail. The assets of the bankrupt lender may be sold to another fi nancial institution. If this happens, the new financial institution and the old mortgage company swill end letters (or send one combined letter) on where and when to start sending your payments to the new institution.
• Double check that important payments are being made on your behalf. For example, if your mortgage is escrowed, make sure that your property taxes, and hazard and flood insurance premiums are being properly applied by the local taxing authority and your insurer.
• Call the lender if necessary. Do not assume staff is not present at the bankrupt lender. Staff often remains or a replacement servicer is available to handle your issues.