APRIL 30, 2010
PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE MESSAGE:
On April 16, 2010, drastic funding cuts were announced to the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) Program that has previously supported free foreclosure prevention counseling. These cuts were nationwide, and reduced many counseling agencies’ funding by more than 50 -60%, and in many cases, almost entirely. See http://www.nw.org/network/nfmcp/#NFMCRound4
As a result of these funding cuts, for the first time in four years since we started providing free foreclosure prevention counseling in mid 2006, The Unity Council Homeownership Center must now place certain limitations and restrictions on our foreclosure counseling services.
New clients:
1. Effective immediately, April 30, 2010, we are now only accepting new foreclosure prevention clients from Alameda County.
2. In addition, your combined household income must be less than 100% AMI or less than $89,300.
3. Finally, we can no longer provide assistance with rental properties, investment properties, vacation homes, or second homes. Thus, you MUST currently live in the property for which you are seeking assistance.
If you meet all three of these requirements, please visit our website at www.unitycouncilhoc.org to get started.
Please be advised that we are currently experiencing a backlog of cases and the wait to speak to a counselor may be anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks. New clients with intake dates of May 1, 2010 or later who meet the 3 requirements listed above and who (1) complete the online intake process at www.unitycouncilhoc.org AND (2) submit ALL supporting documentation listed on the “Submission Checklist” by May 14, 2010, may expect to be contacted by our counseling staff on or after June 7, 2010, as our first priority will be to service existing clients as set forth below.
Thus, if you are a new client and you need immediate assistance, you can either (1) email us your question at info.hoc@unitycouncil.org (please be as brief & concise as possible) or (2) you can seek assistance from another agency.
To find a foreclosure prevention counselor nearest you, please visit www.nw.org or www.hud.org.
Existing Clients:
1. Existing clients with intakes dates between January 1, 2010 and April 30, 2010 who
a. do NOT reside in Alameda County OR,
b. have with a combined household income greater than $89,300, OR,
c. do NOT currently live in the property for which you are seeking assistance
Must (1) complete the online intake process at www.unitycouncilhoc.org AND (2) submit ALL supporting documentation listed on the “Submission Checklist” By Friday, May 14, 2010.
If you fail to complete both (1) the online intake process at www.unitycouncilhoc.org AND (2) submit the supporting documentation listed on the “Submission Checklist” by May 14th we will not be able to assist you and you will no longer be able to access your online profile.
2. Existing clients with intake dates prior to January 1, 2010:
a. continue to contact your servicer at least once a week for status updates, AND,
b. continue to keep a detailed communication log of all contact between you and your servicer, AND
c. contact your counselor should your servicer notify you of any change in your status or should you receive a modification proposal so that we may review it with you for compliance and affordability
We are currently experiencing a backlog of cases and the wait to speak to a counselor may be anywhere from 3- 6 weeks depending on the counselor’s individual caseload and the number of priority cases we may receive (existing clients with notice of trustee sale or who need to have a modification offer from their lender reviewed).
In order to expedite our review process, we will be implementing a new review process beginning May 17th, thus it is very important that regardless of whether you are a new or an existing client, that you make every attempt to submit all of your paperwork on or before May 14th.
Once we have cleared out our backlog of existing clients, we will then begin working on new client files with completed packages received by May 14th. Once we are done with this group, we will then begin working on new client files with completed packages received on or after May 15, 2010.
Live Educational Workshops
All persons are still welcomed and encouraged to come to our bi-monthly three-hour foreclosure prevention educational workshops from 6-9 pm on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month (except November & December). At these educational workshops, we strive to equip you as much information as we can in order to teach you how to “do-it-yourself”, and how to avoid common pitfalls and mistakes.
These workshops, like our counseling services, are free of charge. For workshop schedule, please visit our website at www.unitycouncilhoc.org and click on “Seminars” on the top menu bar.
The Future of Free Foreclosure Counseling And Loan Modification Services
We are profoundly saddened by this turn of events and we are actively seeking additional sources of funding to support free foreclosure counseling services. In the meantime however, to ensure that we can continue to serve our existing clients, we must limit our intake of new clients. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. We nonetheless urge you to attend the free foreclosure prevention workshops. Past clients have found them extremely useful and relevant and we believe you will too.
Humbly,
Sheri Powers, JD, MA
Homeownership Center Director
Unity Council, Oakland CA