The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Non-profit offering help to families in foreclosure
Families affected by sub-prime lenders turning to the law
By Austen Smith, Editor
PUBLISHED: November 13, 2008
HOPE America, a non-profit group based in Ypsilanti, recently held a seminar to discuss ways for the many local families gripped in foreclosure to help keep their home.
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An attorney who specializes in mortgage fraud cases talked to HOPE (Helping Ordinary People Excel) Board members and others from the community. Families who fell victim to the fly-by-night mortgage lenders and the sub-prime housing crisis are now turning to the law more and more and asking community groups like HOPE America what, if anything, can be done.
Executive Director for HOPE America, Eleanor Walker, said they have been out in the local communities talking to some people who have been affected by the housing crisis and are seeking help.
"We are doing what we can to help reduce some of the foreclosures out there," Walker said. "We have been conducting financial literary classes, and holding seminars so people can better understand their financial and credit situation."
The 501c-3 non-profit group works with individual clients and holds food and clothes drives for needy families. The organization's mission is to catch families before they fall under the poverty line through community work and education.
The latest event sponsored by HOPE America was a toy drive for needy children held at Eastern Michigan University's Bowen Field House. Since its inception in 2005, the group also has distributed back-to-school supplies, groceries and personal items at several different drives.
The attorney who spoke at the seminar discussed his involvement with mortgage fraud defenses and how he is working to keep some families in their homes despite going into foreclosure.
He said that his defense focuses on the fraud aspect of some of these sub-prime mortgages that started to affect the housing market early as 2001. The attorney said that most of the cases he has dealt with were families who refinanced at a rate that was "too good to be true."
He said that some of these lenders - with the biggest culprits being Ameriquest and Countrywide, mortgage companies that are now both debunked - sold off sub-prime mortgages as if they were "trinkets at a county fair."
He said the mortgage companies involved in some of his cases practiced a variety of unethical and downright dangerous business practices going so far as to doctor up paperwork and fudging the real rates that clients would be paying. And it is because of these business practices, which his defense argues constitutes fraud, that he is able to file a civil lawsuit which allows for some families to retain their home for the time being.
The attorney said there is a lot of information that the homeowners are not made aware of such as a state-mandated 6-month redemption period after the foreclosure is filed.
HOPE America officials are looking to bring back the attorney in the near future for an open forum with the community.
In order to get in touch with the attorney or for more information about the services that HOPE America provides, call 483-5362 or visit the Web site www.hope-america.org.
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