More Than 1,000 Homeowners Have Kept Homes With Help From North Carolina’s 8-Month-Old Foreclosure Prevention Program; Program Connects Homeowners with Housing Counselors and Legal Aid Legal Services E-lert
Asheville Citizen-Times reports: "Governor Bev Perdue and the N.C. Office of
the Commissioner of Banks ("NCCOB") today announced that the State Home
Foreclosure Prevention Project ("NC Foreclosure Project") has helped more than
1,000 North Carolina
homeowners avoid foreclosure since the program's inception in November 2008 . .
. . The program requires mortgage
companies to file notices with the State in advance of foreclosure on subprime
loans and authorizes the Commissioner of Banks to delay a foreclosure filing by
30 days, if the Commissioner believes a foreclosure can be prevented. ‘The success of this program shows that
foreclosures can be prevented if homeowners, lenders, counselors and the State
work together,' said Mark Pearce, Deputy Commissioner of Banks. ‘In these tough economic times, stopping
unnecessary foreclosures not only benefits individual homeowners, but
stabilizes property values for neighborhoods across the State.' Working with major mortgage companies,
non-profit service providers, and state agencies, NCCOB developed a program to
notify homeowners nearing foreclosure proceedings early and to make it easier
for homeowners to access the existing network of over 150 certified housing
counselors across the state. The NC Foreclosure Project also provides an
opportunity for homeowners to have their subprime loans reviewed for potential
violations of law by NCCOB-trained volunteers, who help NCCOB identify
instances of suspected predatory lending and refer them to private or public
enforcement. A network of legal service
providers is available to assist homeowners referred by counseling agencies to
provide further review of loans or foreclosure defense. In addition, NCCOB staff monitors the
progress of loan work-outs to address communication breakdowns between housing
counselors and mortgage companies. In
the first seven months of operation, the program has prevented more than 1,000
foreclosures and connected over 3,000 homeowners to housing counseling agencies
for foreclosure prevention counseling.
The economic impact of the program to date is estimated at $86 million."
