Counseling group criticizes foreclosure-help hotline
At one point, 26 percent of the calls to the Hotline were abandoned. Homeowners whose calls were answered were frequently given minimal counseling or simply told to call their mortgage lenders.
I heard this complaint from a Midwestern homeowner, too, as it happens.
I looked for a response from the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, which runs the hotline, but it may be a while before I hear back. It says on its website that it generally needs 24 hours to respond to media inquiries. (No, I'm not going to insert a joke here. Honestly.) The hotline is getting a lot of calls because President Bush has pointed struggling homeowners there.
This is as good a time as any to remind folks in trouble on mortgages that if you need help and don't get it in one place, it doesn't hurt to try another.
UPDATE at 12:45: The Homeownership Preservation Foundation has responded with a statement that calls the NFCC's accusations "false and misleading." The preservation foundation said it is reviewing its legal options.
It said its counselors are doing real counseling -- an hour on average to 19,558 homeowners in January. It said the remainder of the callers had "other questions which included: questions about the rate freeze program, calls on behalf of family and friends, inquiries about grant funds, basic information about the HOPE hotline, calls from brokers and realtors, etc."
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Comments
NFCC\'s attack is false and misleading, but people will wonder why they might do it?
Most of the counselors for HPF are working for NFCC members so why?
Doesn\'t make sense? I have the answer..
Sadly, its all about money.
NFCC is a trade association and was hoping for a big pay day from the $180 million appropriated by congress, as applications were restricted to \"intermediary groups\" NFCC is one.
Intermediaries apply on behalf of their members and take a %. So the more counseling promised by the NFCC groups, the more NFCC (the people in Silver Spring who do no counseling at all) get.
NFCC realized that many of their big member groups were also working with HPF, and/or other housing finance agencies in the states in which the member groups work, all of this outside of NFCC\'s control. In these cases NFCC would not get a penny for any the work done unless the money flows through NFCC.
To try and protect their share of the grant money, NFCC told its members that they could apply solely through NFCC or not at all. They misled their members into believing that HUD rules forced this.. and most of their members bought the misinformation, missing the opportunity to the work with state groups because they thought they had to choose.
Those working with HPF did not, and NFCC was caught out when HPF told their partners they were free to apply with other groups as well as with HPF. making it obvious that NFCC was simply trying to stand in the middle, creating the need to choose to try to maximize its share counseling money. (funny because NFCC accused HPF of extortion)
So when these groups declined to join NFCC\'s application NFCC saw it\'s greedy ultimatum had backfired and their $ slipping away, they turned around to smear HPF.
How\'s that for nerve, they turn around and scream foul when their own self serving tricks fail. NFCC\'s executives are former lobbyists for American Express and s a former CEO of a failed bank, who know how to play political hardball and it shows.
So who loses? the homeowner who is scared off using the hot-line by a politically powerful trade association trying to settle a score and the Sun gets used in process... political hardball..
Posted by: Counselor | February 24, 2008 5:46 PM