Housing: Foreclosure Prevention Resources

Avoid Foreclosure Prevention Scams:

Always avoid working with any company that:

  • Contacts you directly after your home goes into foreclosure.
  • Guarantees to stop the foreclosure process no matter what your circumstances.
  • Instructs you not to contact your lender, a lawyer, or credit or housing counselor
  • Collects a fee before it provides services to you.
  • Tells you to make your home mortgage payments directly to their company.
  • Tells you to transfer your property deed or title to the individual or company.

    Following are legitimate programs to assist homeowners at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure.

    You may also call the Homeowners Hope Hotline at 1-888-995-HOPE. This hotline is the only official hotline currently offering free foreclosure-prevention services to struggling homeowners.

    National:
    State Listings:  NJ  /   /    (Official USPS State Abbreviations)

    National

    Avoiding Foreclosure is a guide developed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This guide provides a step-by-step approach to help you avoid the foreclosure process and provides information on programs that can help you if you find yourself at risk of losing your home.

    New Sign FDIC via their Consumer resource center.

    Institute for Foreclosure Legal Assistance provides links to Legal Aid Societies that provide very low cost or free legal assistance to homeowners at risk of losing their homes.

    Making Home Affordable is a government-sponsored program that provides mortgage refinancing and loan modification programs to homeowners at risk of losing their homes. Via their website, homeowners can learn more about the options available and can complete a self-assessment to determine whether they might be eligible for a modification or a refinance under the program. They can also connect to the Home Ownership Preservation Foundation via the toll-free Homeowners Hope Hotline by calling 1-888-995-HOPE.

    New Sign National Foundation for Credit Counseling connects homeowners at risk of losing their homes to legitimate Credit Counselors who can help restructure bill payments and in turn prevent foreclosure. Call (800) 388-2227 to speak to a counselor near you.

    U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has developed a directory of Foreclosure Avoidance Counseling Agencies. Much information on Foreclosure avoidance. This directory provides contact information and links to local HUD approved Housing Counseling Agencies. All assistance provided by these agencies is offered free of charge.

    State Listings

    New Jersey

    Society for the Preservation of Continued Homeownership (S.P.O.C.H.) is a non-profit housing and troubled mortgage loan counseling organization. S.P.O.C.H. assists families in devising and implementing strategies to maintain homeownership, who due to involuntary hardships including loss of income, non-reimbursed medical expenses, a divorce, death or catastrophic illness of a spouse, child, or family member are faced with mortgage and/or tax foreclosure. To learn of their many services, visit their website, or call (732) 571-9464.

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