Loans Act A Lifeline For Homeowners Facing Foreclosure

May 1st, 2008

In West Palm Beach, even bankers are facing foreclosures. Dee Sherrod, an assistant bank manager, along with around six other people at the Foreclosure Assistance Centre in the city. They all had their own respective stories. Some of them are running late in payments and some have to refinance in order to continue to stay in their homes. However, options are fast running out for all of them. The Foreclosure Assistance Centre was established in April and is the first centre in the country. House owners can get as much as $10,000 as emergency assistance in order to meet their due payments.

The city thus pays the mortgage that is overdue and the home owner pays back the city at a lower rate of interest and this process starts five years after the mortgage have been paid. The homeowners are able to stay in their homes and they have to continue paying their monthly mortgages. The housing and community development director of the city, Emelda Johnson said that they were just extending their helping hands to people who deserve to stay in their homes. The applicant has to be a resident of Western Palm Beach and they have to provide the centre with their employment and financial records.

There are six full time staff members and one of them gets in touch with the loan department and works out an alternative scheme of payment that the homeowner will be able to afford. However, this generally does not bring results as the homeowner is usually lagging far behind and the bank wants payment. There are three alternatives if things don’t work out. Firstly, the unpaid mortgage the homeowner has is paid by the program and they again have to be paid back with an interest of 3 percent starting after five years of the payment. Secondly, a new plan of funds is arranged with a different lender by the city. Thirdly, in case there is no possibility of the homeowner of holding on to his home, the officials assist the owner so that he can sell off the house at the fastest possibility.

Sherrod was taking help from the foreclosure officials to avoid a ‘short sale’. She wants a loan which will help her stay in her home. There have been around 1,200 loan enquiries in the centre and around three dozen people have received help. The volume of foreclosure has hiked up greatly locally as well as across the nation. The city officials say that locally around 2000 homes were facing foreclosure.