October 22, 2009: Mortgage Counseling Agencies Recieve Aid

40 Mortgage Counseling Agencies Receive Aid, Hire More Counselors

SAN FRANCISCO, October 22, 2009­– Mortgage counseling agencies will receive $2.6 million to hire more counselors over the next two years, and help the hundreds of thousands of California homeowners facing interest rate resets and the threat of foreclosure. The California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC), along with financial institutions and two foundations, today announced grant awards to 40 nonprofit mortgage counseling agencies through the California Home Ownership Preservation Initiative to help them better respond to the overflow of clients their offices are serving.

Three years into the crisis, California remains one of the hardest hit states—posting the third highest foreclosure rate in the nation, according to RealtyTrac’s newly released report for the third quarter of 2009. That means one in every 53 households in the state received a foreclosure filing. Meanwhile, the federal Home Affordable Modification Program reports that only 16% of all eligible borrowers have received a trial modification to date. Over the next five years, a total of 10 to 12 million foreclosures are expected nationally.

Nonprofit mortgage counselors play a critical role in slowing the tide of foreclosures by advocating for their clients, helping them navigate the servicing system, and avoid foreclosure rescue scams.  

Initiative funds will be used to hire 50 more counselors statewide, who are expected to serve 40,000 troubled home loan borrowers, predominantly in low-to-moderate income neighborhoods that were targeted with predatory subprime loans. Funds will also go towards culturally appropriate outreach to working families faced with foreclosure.

“Mortgage counselors are critical to keeping Californians in their homes,” said Alan Fisher, executive director of the California Reinvestment Coalition, the organization that raised the funds for the Initiative. “By increasing the number of mortgage counselors, the California Home Ownership Preservation Initiative fulfills one of two major elements in solving much of the foreclosure crisis. The other requires the mortgage industry to play a more active role by modifying loans and working with troubled borrowers.”

The California Reinvestment Coalition partnered with Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Comerica Bank, US Bank, HSBC-North America, The San Francisco Foundation and California Community Foundation to create the $5 million two-year Initiative. The partners released today a list of second-year grant awards to California nonprofit organizations serving troubled home loan borrowers. The Initiative provides funds statewide in response to the level of community need.

Counseling agencies report being overwhelmed by the 200 to 500 percent increase in homeowners walking through their doors since the crisis began. As the foreclosure crisis worsens, these agencies will see even more borrowers who need help. The Initiative is one piece of an effort to help homeowners in trouble find solutions and neighborhoods stay whole.

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For more information about the California Home Ownership Preservation Initiative partners contact:

 Colleen Haggerty, Bank of America, (213) 621-7414

Bill Becker, Comerica Bank, (310) 297-2263
 Brenda Wright, Wells Fargo Bank, (415) 623-7738

Kate Durham, HSBC-North America, (847) 291-2101

Antonio Manning, JP Morgan Chase, (323) 860-2006

Erica Opstad, US Bank, (858) 720-7128
 Alvertha Penny, California Community Foundation, (213) 413-4130
 James Head, San Francisco Foundation, (415) 733-8514

For more information about this release and to talk with mortgage counselors, contact Tram Nguyen at 415-864-3980, tnguyen@calreinvest.org, 474 Valencia Street, Suite 230, San Francisco, California 94103 or visit www.calreinvest.org.

Grants will be awarded to the following:

Mortgage Counseling Agency                           City

ACORN HOUSING

The California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC) is a statewide coalition of more than 275 nonprofit organizations and public agencies that has worked to increase access to credit for affordable housing, community economic development, and consumer services in low-income communities and communities of color since 1986. CRC has comprehensive community reinvestment agreements with major California banks and savings & loans.