Possibility of avoiding foreclosure

       I recently read an article in the Boston Business Journal about a foreclosure prevention workshop being held at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday August 12.   This workshop allows distressed homeowners concerned about foreclosure to meet with their lenders face-to-face and learn what they can do to avoid foreclosure, if possible.
This important event is being hosted by The New England Patriots Charitable Foundation and The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. 
     The Hope NOW Alliance and the NeighborWorks America are playing key organizing roles in the event.   The Hope NOW Alliance is an organization I have written about in a previous post.  They play a major role for homeowners in distress to help them stay in their homes and creates a unified,  coordinated plan to reach and help as many homeowners as possible.
     This event is so long overdue.  Why did it the credit crisis to build to such a magnitude until for this to come about?  I am talking to and reading about homeowners every day who pick up the phone to try to find from their lenders how they can possibly work something out until they get back on their feet.  Lenders are telling these people there is no alternative.  They will no accept partial payments.  One homeowner actually showed me the check and letter from the lender that accompanied it explaining that partial payment would not be considered, and oh, by the way, we will be working to foreclosure on your house.  I mean, come on ... Such short-sightedness.   Everybody loses. 
     So, I urge anyone reading this who may know of someone in trouble to spread the word about this informative, and hopefully helpful, event.  There are many reasons why people are unable to keep their home.  It is an embarrassing and humiliating experience for most to have to admit they are in trouble.  Some of us may know several people on the brink of financial disaster and not know it.  After all, it's not a great conversation starter!  
     If you are reading this and are one of the millions of Americans in this terrible situation, please ask for help.  It is now there in many forms with organizations initiating efforts to not only avoid foreclosure, but to help you keep your home. 
 

RE: Possibility of avoiding foreclosure

Even though we are told of instances of foreclosure in terms of statistics, to so many, it’s a story of a family member or friend that they know.

I’m not sure who to blame - the owner who could’ve taken different actions to avoid foreclosure or the banks and government who do such a poor job of keeping homeowners informed with all their small-print info.

It’s a spiral where everyone is chasing and blaming someone else. But one thing that we all can agree on in difficult times like this is that it’s a downward spiral that is collectively drowning us as a whole nation that once was prosperous and less wounded.