New Federal Effort Launched to Combat Loan Modification Scams

NeighborWorks was so pleased to learn yesterday that the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and the U.S. Department of the Treasury have joined forces to combat scams targeted at homeowners seeking to apply for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).

The joint task force issued this consumer fraud alert, which provides vulnerable homeowners with tips for avoiding mortgage modification scams. In addition to providing education programs to protect struggling homeowners, the federal agencies will work together and with law enforcement partners to investigate and shut down these scams, and will ensure the perpetrators pay for their crimes.

This collaborative federal effort strengthens the work we have been doing for the past two years through the Loan Modification Scam Alert Campaign to help vulnerable homeowners recognize the signs of scam and to learn where to turn for legitimate help.

Scam artists hide behind many titles — Loan Modification Consultant, Forensic Foreclosure Consultant, Short Sale Negotiator, to name a few — and they sometimes falsely represent themselves as government programs. Even trusted professionals like real estate agents or attorneys have been involved in loan modification scams.

It can be hard to spot a scammer, so the best way for homeowners to protect themselves is to know the signs. And the best way to shut down these scams is to report them. Legitimate help is FREE and available from a HUD-approved housing counselor.

$3 Million from Wells Fargo Housing Foundation Will Bolster NeighborWorks Housing Education and Counseling

A $3 million grant from the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation will support a range of NeighborWorks America training initiatives. It will strengthen the ability of nonprofit community development professionals to help thousands of consumers better understand homeownership and how to avoid foreclosure.

Wells Fargo’s grant to NeighborWorks America supports training and scholarships for homeownership educators and housing counselors delivered through NeighborWorks Training Institutes; local place-based training opportunities around the U.S., and increasingly through NeighborWorks led e-learning courses. The grant period runs from October 1, 2011 through March 31, 2013.

“This grant from Wells Fargo is important to our ability to provide the latest information and training to housing counselors and other community development professionals,” said Eileen Fitzgerald, CEO of NeighborWorks America. “Importantly, this grant from Wells Fargo underlines its commitment to narrowing the gap for access to quality homeownership education, training and counseling.”

“Financial challenges are building for housing counseling services at a time when consumer demand for their help is growing,” said Kimberly Jackson, executive director of the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation. “Wells Fargo believes homeownership education and counseling training and scholarships provided by NeighborWorks are critical to helping Americans as they face financial struggles that extend beyond their home payments and the country continues to work through the impacts of a challenging economy.”

Using various delivery methods to reach housing counseling practitioners, NeighborWorks America awards more than 12,000 training certificates each year in homeownership and community lending, and the demand for skilled professionals in homeownership education and counseling is not expected to decline.

Thank you to Wells Fargo for strengthening our training reach! Learn more here.

Season to be Thankful

Please view this video from NeighborWorks Anchorage and take a moment to appreciate your life and those organizations that help people in need, not giving them a fish, but showing them how to fish for themselves.

NeighborWorks Anchorage is celebrating it's 30th anniversary and has used multimedia tools to show us the warmth of the human spirit, and remind us what a joy it is to work in community development.

View “Around the Kitchen Table”

.
Having trouble seeing the video plug in above?
Please view it here: http://vimeo.com/29818988

NeighborWorks America Names Sarah McGraw Greenberg Director of Development



Sarah McGraw Greenberg, director
of Development, NeighborWorks America


Join us in congratulating Sarah McGraw Greenberg, who NeighborWorks America appointed as director of the Development Division. As director, Greenberg provides strategic leadership to NeighborWorks America's partnership and resource development efforts in support of NeighborWorks' mission to create opportunities for people to live in affordable homes, improve their lives and strengthen their communities. Greenberg reports to NeighborWorks America CEO Eileen Fitzgerald.

Prior to being named director of the Development division, Greenberg was senior manager for Community Stabilization at NeighborWorks. She led NeighborWorks America’s strategy to mitigate the impact of foreclosed properties on communities by creating and managing NeighborWorks America’s Stable Communities Initiative, and managing the corporation’s role in the creation of the National Community Stabilization Trust, a partnership with five other national housing intermediaries.

Learn more about Greenberg here.

NeighborWorks America Assists New Orleans in Launching a $52 Million First Time Homebuyer Initiative



New Orleans’s Mayor Mitch Landrieu announces
the $52 Million First Time Homebuyer Initiative
at a press conference on October 27. NeighborWorks
Southern District Senior Program Coordinator Donna Tally
and City of New Orleans’ Director of Housing Policy
Brian Lawlor are on the Mayor’s left.


NeighborWorks America’s Southern District is providing technical assistance to the City of New Orleans’ Office of Community Development to execute a $52.3 million soft second mortgage homebuyer assistance initiative that will provide hundreds of New Orleans families an opportunity to become homeowners. The initiative is designed to strategically promote homeownership opportunities for low and moderate income residents and families who are buying their first homes.

“We know that promoting and incentivizing homeownership is key in revitalizing our neighborhoods across the city,” said Mayor Landrieu at a press conference announcing the program on October 27. “This program will put Hurricane Katrina recovery dollars to use for their intended purpose – helping the citizens of New Orleans rebuild their lives and neighborhoods post-Katrina. It will also reduce blight and stimulate the local economy.”

Mayor Landrieu said that this has truly been a partnership between the public, private, faith-based and nonprofit sectors. He thanked all partners, including NeighborWorks America, for their role in getting the program up and running.

Southern District Senior Program Coordinator Donna Tally, under the leadership of District Director Donald Phoenix, created a partnership with City of New Orleans’s Director of Housing Policy Brian Lawlor to provide technical assistance for this initiative. NeighborWorks worked with the city’s staff to design, develop, and deliver the program, providing technical assistance to develop the underwriting criteria, the mechanics required to run the program, and the training for local lender partners.

“This is a great example of the power of partnership,” said Tally. “Mayor Mitch Landrieu put the right people together and things started happening. NeighborWorks America is proud to be part of the team that designed and delivered this program because our investment will pay exponential dividends for families and communities across the Crescent City.”

“The investment of these funds will help neighborhoods in New Orleans reach a tipping point in sustainability as the recovery continues,” said Phoenix. “NeighborWorks America’s Southern District is honored to play an instrumental role in the delivery of this program, the largest of its kind in the City of New Orleans. We look forward to an ongoing partnership with Mayor Landrieu and the City of New Orleans.”

The press conference announcing the soft second homebuyer initiative is available for viewing on YouTube.