The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is teaming up with an industry-sponsored foreclosure effort in nine regions to step up efforts to identify homeowners at risk of foreclosure and to increase lender support for foreclosure intervention.
The partnership, between FDIC’s Alliance for Economic Inclusion and NeighborWorks America, will focus on regions already served by both groups, including Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Wilmington, Del., south Texas (including Houston and Austin), the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast, and Alabama’s “black belt,” the groups said.
The partnership will also:
- Promote awareness of abusive foreclosure-rescue schemes and deceptive marketing and advertising practices.
- Encourage loan workouts as an alternative to foreclosure.
- Promote best intervention practices for consumers who could still qualify for financing with flexible terms and credit enhancements.
- Expand support for the NeighborWorks Center for Foreclosure Solutions, a national partnership between the financial, mortgage, insurance and nonprofit sectors.
NeighborWorks America and the Ad Council recently teamed up to produce public service announcements that urge homeowners in financial trouble to call a hotline maintained by the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, 888-995-HOPE. The hotline, which was getting about 700 calls per month in July 2006, received nearly 15,000 calls in June.
