NeighborWorks America Salutes Operation Stolen Dreams for Efforts to Stamp out Mortgage Fraud

NeighborWorks America salutes the efforts to stamp out mortgage fraud undertaken by Operation Stolen Dreams. As reported by the U.S. Department of Justice, the task force has gone after more than 1,200 criminal defendants who are responsible for more than $2.3 billion in losses, and made 485 arrests.

“We applaud Operation Stolen Dreams and all of the interagency partners for getting these mortgage fraud scam artists off our streets and away from the innocent people being victimized,” said Marietta Rodriguez, national director of homeownership programs and lending for NeighborWorks America. “The homeowners who are being ripped off by these scam artists are facing foreclosure and desperate to listen to anyone who claims to be able to help them. These scam artists use slick sales pitches and advertising to lure in homeowners, guarantee to give them loan modifications, charge for their services in advance and then leave homeowners facing foreclosure and without anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars.”

In October 2009, NeighborWorks America and a host of local, state, and national partners launched the Loan Scam Alert campaign to raise awareness of loan modification scams, inform consumers about the signs of a loan modification scam, and encourage consumers to report scams occurring in their communities.

“The more we continue to raise awareness of loan modification scams through public education campaigns like the Loan Scam Alert campaign and encourage homeowners who have been scammed to report being scammed, the more we can help Operation Stolen Dreams track down these criminals and prosecute them,” said Rodriguez.

For more information about the Loan Scam Alert campaign or to report being scammed, visit http://www.loanscamalert.org/.

NeighborWorks and WNBA Team Up on Mortgage Fraud

If you're watching women's professional basketball this month, don't be surprised to see our loan scam alerts up near the scoreboard. In honor of National Homeownership Month, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and NeighborWorks America are teaming up to raise awareness on homeownership loan issues and fraudulent activities. http://bit.ly/dCzeyi

NeighborWorks America will host awareness nights in WNBA games in June, including Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Antonio, and Washington, D.C. Experts will be onsite to provide information and collateral materials that will help homeowners protect themselves against loan modification scams, find trusted help to protect themselves against such fraud, and report illegal activity to authorities.

This partnership is part of the Loan Modification Scam Alert campaign, which was launched in October 2009 and is the largest national effort to educate homeowners on scams. For more information, visit www.LoanScamAlert.org.

NeighborWorks America Reflects on 2010 NeighborWorks Week

More than 320 events celebrated local communities and informed consumers June 5-12, 2010

During the 2010 NeighborWorks Week (June 5-12) NeighborWorks America and local NeighborWorks organizations held more than 320 community revitalization and 150 loan modification scam awareness events nationwide.

The theme for the 27th anniversary of NeighborWorks Week was informing homeowners on how to identify, avoid and report mortgage modification scams. The educational events ranged from canvassing neighborhoods with tip-sheets to holding one-on-one and group workshops about reputable mortgage modification programs.

One such event took place on Friday, June 4, hosted by Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City, a NeighborWorks affiliate. Held in Times Square, the event featured dozens of volunteers talking to thousands of people, and NeighborWorks loan modification scam Alert campaign materials were featured on the Times Square jumbotrons.

Tents were also set up where homeowners could talk to NeighborWorks representatives about scams, foreclosures, mortgage payments or any other issues associated with homeownership. This event raised awareness of loan modification scams, educated New Yorkers on how to buy their first home and celebrated the surrounding communities.

In New Jersey, Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, joined NeighborWorks America and the Newark-Essex Foreclosure Task Force to launch the Loan Scam Alert Campaign for Community Outreach Day in Newark. The event was held at a vacant, foreclosed home, which is to be re-developed into a community park.

In addition to the mortgage modification scam prevention events nationwide, NeighborWorks organizations held community celebrations and hands-on community building activities, including home repair and painting events, landscaping projects and mural painting.

Pictures, videos and more stories can be viewed here. More information is also available in the NeighborWorks newsroom.

National NeighborWorks Week is Your Chance to Get Involved in Your Community

By Omar Velarde-Wong
Project Manager, Communications and Marketing
NeighborWorks America

National NeighborWorks Week has been a core part of NeighborWorks America’s fabric for the past 27 years. But this year it has taken on special meaning for me. This is my first time managing it and it has been an absolute pleasure to witness first-hand the dedication of our member organizations to their communities. There are more than 230 organizations across the country but this particular program is the one that connects us on a single week and embodies the mission of the organization.

We have more than 300 volunteer events planned so far during NeighborWorks Week, June 5-12. About half of them will involve local NeighborWorks organizations spreading the word in their communities about loan modification scams. The proliferation of these scams is a huge problem in our neighborhoods, and we’re doing all we can to inform homeowners facing foreclosure how to avoid loan modification scams and report them to trusted authorities.

This year’s National NeighborWorks Week will be no different. We will be holding our traditional community building activities, including home repair and painting events, landscaping projects, and mural painting.

I’m looking forward to getting involved myself. I’ll be one of dozens of volunteers on Saturday, June 5, who will be landscaping the Willowbrook Condominium, a tenant purchase project developed by our local D.C. member organization, Manna, Inc. I also will be canvassing the Brookland neighborhood and inviting residents to a Loan Modification Scam Alert seminar later in the day.

I encourage you all to get involved in your community during this volunteer week and beyond. Find an event near you here. If you’ve already selected an event, please share your comments, pictures and videos with us! Contact me to find out where to send them in.

NeighborWorks America Salutes 2010 National Homeownership Month

NeighborWorks America announces a series of consumer outreach efforts to support affordable, sustainable and healthy homes and communities during the 2010 National Homeownership Month.

“For more than 30 years, NeighborWorks America and its network of affiliates around the country have supported and encouraged affordable and long-term homeownership,” said Ken Wade, CEO of NeighborWorks America. “From providing daily homeownership tips to urging homeowners facing foreclosure to talk to the right people, throughout National Homeownership Month we are working to get good information in the hands of potential homebuyers and current homeowners so they can achieve and sustain the American Dream of homeownership.”

NeighborWorks America and its network have planned a series of activities in June, including:

• Featuring a “homeownership tip of the day” on NeighborWorks America’s National Homeownership Month Web page, NeighborWorks America’s Facebook page, and via Twitter.


• Broadcasting videos that feature homeowners and nonprofits who discuss what homeownership means to them. To see current examples, visit the NeighborWorks America YouTube channel.


• Urging homeowners who face foreclosure to contact the right people through a new public service announcement campaign designed to educate homeowners about where they can turn for help if they are at risk of foreclosure. The campaign urges homeowners to call the Hope Hotline – 888-995-HOPE (4673) – where they can speak to nonprofit HUD-approved housing counselors in English, Spanish, or more than 20 additional languages. To view the ads, or for more information about the campaign, visit http://www.foreclosurehelpandhope.org/. Homeowners at risk of foreclosure can also find nonprofit, HUD-approved housing counselors in their community by visiting http://www.findaforeclosurecounselor.org/.


• Encouraging homeowners who face foreclosure to avoid loan modification scams by linking homeowners to the Loan Scam Alert campaign web site, which contains tips on how to avoid loan modification scam artists and where to report loan modification scams. The campaign web site is available in English and Spanish, and also has materials available in Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese.


• Holding a series of homeownership education classes, fairs, and loan modification awareness events during National NeighborWorks Week, June 5-12, 2010.


• Participating in industry training and education events that strengthen the nonprofit housing counseling community to meet the needs of homebuyers and existing homeowners.

For more information about NeighborWorks activities during National Homeownership Month, please contact Erin Angell Collins, ecollins@nw.org or 202-220-6317.