Foreclosure Prevention Services & Information
How Our Services Can Help You
Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California (FHANC) offers foreclosure prevention counseling and education services at no cost to homeowners throughout Marin, Sonoma, Solano counties and beyond. FHANC’s HUD-Certified Bilingual Foreclosure Prevention Counselor, Karen Crump, has 9 years of experience assisting homeowners at the agency.
FHANC’s HUD-Certified Bilingual Foreclosure Prevention Counselor can assist you if:
Counselors will discuss the following steps for individual clients:
FHANC’s HUD-Certified Bilingual Foreclosure Prevention Counselor can assist you if:
- You are having difficulty making your mortgage payments
- You have fallen behind on your mortgage payments
- You are facing foreclosure
Counselors will discuss the following steps for individual clients:
- Gather basic information from clients about housing needs or problems.
- Education the client on fair housing rights and fair lending practices.
- Develop a budget customized to client needs; evaluate for housing affordability and recommend next steps.
- Identify resources within the counseling agency, the community, or HUD that might help meet the need or resolve the problem.
- Design a counseling action plan for the client (loan modification, repayment plan, forbearance, short sale, deed in lieu, refinance, or federal mortgage relief assistance)
- Explain the action plan to the client, including the actions the client must take.
Questions? Need help?
Alternatives to Foreclosure
COVID Forbearance:
Homeowners in a COVID forbearance, coming out of a COVID forbearance, or already out of a COVID forbearance need to take action! If you do not prepare for the end of the forbearance, you can lose all the benefits you gained (no late payments, no reporting to credit bureaus, and protection from foreclosure action.)
There are 3.7 million borrowers in the U.S. currently delinquent with their mortgage - 2.3 million of which are seriously delinquent (beyond 120 days). There are 3 million homeowners in forbearance.
A forbearance constitutes a temporary reprieve from mortgage obligations and has never been a solution to mortgage delinquency. Over 500,000 homeowners had exited COVID forbearances by October 2020. 21% of them either took no action or were not successful with action taken and fell into delinquency. Of those delinquent homeowners, 33.6% held conventional loans.
Contact a HUD approved office to receive assistance. FHANC is a HUD-certified agency and offers counseling and education at no cost to the homeowner. Use this link to request assistance today.
California’s Mortgage Relief Program
The California Mortgage Relief Program (CA MRP) uses federal Homeowner Assistance Funds to help homeowners get caught up on their housing payments. The California Mortgage Relief Program is part of the state’s Housing is Key initiative. The program is absolutely free and the funds do not need to be repaid.
The CA MRP is not a modification which means the loan payment will remain the same. The funds provided are not a loan and will not become a lien. Accepted applications will result in the funds being paid directly to the lender to resolve full mortgage delinquency. If your monthly mortgage payments are comfortable, this is not the program for you.
There are specific eligibility requirements. Please visit the CA MRP website for full details: https://camortgagerelief.org/
To request assistance or to inquire about your eligibility for this program or if you have been denied by this program, please contact FHANC today. Use this link to request assistance today.
Fair Housing protections for homeowners:
You are protected from discriminatory behavior from appraisers, lenders, homeowner’s associations, realtors, and insurance adjusters. Fair Housing law also protects your from discriminatory behavior by your neighbors if the behaviors escalate to the level of a hate crime.
FHANC is currently representing several clients around the Bay Area who have alleged racial discrimination during the appraisal process. Read more about these clients here.
If you are a homeowner who suspects unfair practices or discriminatory behavior, please contact us. FHANC’s counselors can assist you with advocacy, counseling, investigations, and administrative representation.
Alternatives to Foreclosure
Homeowners in a COVID forbearance, coming out of a COVID forbearance, or already out of a COVID forbearance need to take action! If you do not prepare for the end of the forbearance, you can lose all the benefits you gained (no late payments, no reporting to credit bureaus, and protection from foreclosure action.)
There are 3.7 million borrowers in the U.S. currently delinquent with their mortgage - 2.3 million of which are seriously delinquent (beyond 120 days). There are 3 million homeowners in forbearance.
A forbearance constitutes a temporary reprieve from mortgage obligations and has never been a solution to mortgage delinquency. Over 500,000 homeowners had exited COVID forbearances by October 2020. 21% of them either took no action or were not successful with action taken and fell into delinquency. Of those delinquent homeowners, 33.6% held conventional loans.
Contact a HUD approved office to receive assistance. FHANC is a HUD-certified agency and offers counseling and education at no cost to the homeowner. Use this link to request assistance today.
California’s Mortgage Relief Program
The California Mortgage Relief Program (CA MRP) uses federal Homeowner Assistance Funds to help homeowners get caught up on their housing payments. The California Mortgage Relief Program is part of the state’s Housing is Key initiative. The program is absolutely free and the funds do not need to be repaid.
The CA MRP is not a modification which means the loan payment will remain the same. The funds provided are not a loan and will not become a lien. Accepted applications will result in the funds being paid directly to the lender to resolve full mortgage delinquency. If your monthly mortgage payments are comfortable, this is not the program for you.
There are specific eligibility requirements. Please visit the CA MRP website for full details: https://camortgagerelief.org/
To request assistance or to inquire about your eligibility for this program or if you have been denied by this program, please contact FHANC today. Use this link to request assistance today.
Fair Housing protections for homeowners:
You are protected from discriminatory behavior from appraisers, lenders, homeowner’s associations, realtors, and insurance adjusters. Fair Housing law also protects your from discriminatory behavior by your neighbors if the behaviors escalate to the level of a hate crime.
FHANC is currently representing several clients around the Bay Area who have alleged racial discrimination during the appraisal process. Read more about these clients here.
If you are a homeowner who suspects unfair practices or discriminatory behavior, please contact us. FHANC’s counselors can assist you with advocacy, counseling, investigations, and administrative representation.
Alternatives to Foreclosure
- Loan Modification: A written agreement that permanently changes one or more of the original terms of the loan (rate, payment amount, maturity date, or amount of the unpaid principal balance).
- Repayment Plan: Borrower agrees to cure the delinquency by adding an additional amount to their monthly mortgage payment until the loan becomes current.
- Forbearance Plan: An agreement to suspend or reduce normal monthly payments for a fixed period of time.
- California Mortgage Relief Program - available until 2025.
Mortgage Foreclosure Scams
Some of the fastest growing frauds sweeping the nation are foreclosure rescue scams. If you believe you have been a victim of a mortgage foreclosure scam, please contact us immediately for assistance.
Protect yourself by following these suggestions:
Protect yourself by following these suggestions:
- Do not sign a contract under duress and do not sign a document that you do not understand. Always request to take time to review any documents at your own pace.
- Do not enter into oral agreements. Get any offers in writing and ask your housing counselor to review offers.
- Do not make payments to anyone except your mortgage company.
- Do not sign a quit claim deed without consulting your attorney or housing counselor.
- Do not accept an offer from somebody who wants to make good on your missed payments and take the house off your hands in exchange for documents that assign them the surplus from the foreclosure sale.
Resources
- Foreclosure Timeline
- HUD approved counselor and agency list
- California Mortgage Relief Program contact:1-888-840-2594 toll free between the hours of 8AM to 6PM PST Monday thru Friday to speak with a specialist. Interpretation support is available for over 200 languages
- Participating servicers
- AnnualCreditReport.com
- California Mortgage Relief Program statistics
