Counseling And Hope For Sub Prime Mortgage Holders
By Calum MacKenzie
You may think that holders of a sub prime mortgage need more than just counseling - true! But there is a new program out which includes counseling as part of its scheme to help distressed borrowers.
The counseling is intended to help people to hold onto their homes after they have been accepted for refinancing through a new scheme.
The scheme called 'Hopenow' has been given the blessing of two of the big boys in Government: the United States Department of Treasury and the Unite States Department of Housing and Urban Affairs.
It is to Hopenow's credit that they are offering counseling, it is at least recognition of the fact that, though this may be a national crisis, to every one who is struggling to pay the monthly mortgage, it is simply an individual crisis.
If you are one of these people, take the trouble and afford the expense to send your application for consideration by recorded delivery, special mail or registered post. So far 45,000 applications have been taken, and you may want to show that you have in fact, tried to access this help. You will need proof.
Refinanced mortgages with fixed rates are available now for homeowners struggling with sub-prime mortgages. Knowing that these mortgage holders could face even more increases in their mortgages in the next two years, action is being taken now.
At the moment Hopenow are looking at the most serious cases, as their mandate is to avoid as many foreclosures as possible.
This means that when you write to them, you need to state your case clearly, and do not feel shy about writing out your worst financial problems and the amount of money that you will lose, and how many children you have that will be homeless.
Enlist the help of your sub prime mortgage lender (he or she does not want you to lose this property, as undoubtedly they will lose some of their cash too, if you go under.) Your sub prime mortgage lender may even know of a way to help put you near the top of the 'help' list.
In some cases the help can come in the form of an interest rate freeze, rather than a complete change in mortgage plan, but this freeze will serve to tide mortgage holders over until they can re-finance without the panic of foreclosure over their heads.
Hopenow has been created by lenders in the mortgage services field who represent 90% of the sub prime market. There are at least 2milllion sub prime mortgage holders. This outreach program often contacts lenders before they get to foreclosures and offer to help them. They do have a website that you can visit.
This help is a blessing for the nation as well as the individual people in distress; once the foreclosure problem is faced and dealt with by a system that has Government backing, the property market will not have a glut and prices will be re-established.
