RISMEDIA, Sept. 12, 2008-This week, Governor Schwarzenegger’s task force on non-traditional mortgages highlighted the dramatic increase in the number of California homeowners who have taken action in the wake of rising mortgage payments and seeking help through the HOPE hotline.
The Homeownership Preservation Foundation (HPF) who administers the national HOPE hotline released a report of California statistics for January 2008 to the present, indicating a nearly 300% increase in the numbers of homeowners calling and receiving one-on-one counseling sessions through the non-profit, HUD-approved provider.
“The Governor has said all along that solving the housing crisis is going to take efforts from both homeowners and lenders. The Foundation’s numbers complement the Department of Corporations’ loan modifications numbers and serve as evidence that the Governor’s efforts have helped motivate homeowners statewide to seek help,” said Secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency and member of the task force, Rosario Marin. “Keeping homeowners in their property is what’s best for their families, their communities and our state.”
The task force launched the 90 Days of Hope campaign in January 2008. 90 Days of Hope is an ongoing public education campaign to raise awareness of the options homeowners have to possibly avoid foreclosure. 90 days represents the average amount of time a homeowner has to take action after they are informed that their interest rate is set to increase. It’s also the approximate amount of time that it can take to work out new payment options for those who proactively contact their lenders before any payments are missed. The aggressive campaign features real California families who struggled with foreclosure offering others a path to real solutions and providing real hope.
Also today, the Department of Corporations who tracks and reports loan modification statistics released mortgage servicer survey results for July 2008. The data shows continued success for the Governor’s Subprime Mortgage Agreement from November 2007 to the present time.
For more information, visit http://www.995hope.org/.
