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On Air: Federal News Network
Word from the top
HUD\'s efforts to keep struggling homeowners in their homes.
By Suzanne Kubota
Senior Internet Editor
FederalNewsRadio.com
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is trying to get the word out about what tools are available to homeowners to help them stay in those homes.
For example, under the new “HOPE for Homeowners Act of 2008,” new mortgages offered by FHA-approved lenders will refinance abusive loans at a significant discount for homeowners who are having trouble meeting their mortgage payments. More information about the program can be found on the web (see links below) or by calling 1-888-995-HOPE or 1-800-CALL-FHA.
“My advice to anybody who’s having a challenge is, first of all, act now.”
HUD Secretary Steve Preston tells FederalNewsRadio, most importantly, “If you think you’re not going to be able to pay your mortgage, act now. First line, call your lender. Second line, call one of these two hotlines or go onto Hud.gov, find somebody that you can talk to about what your options are because there are people out there to help you.”
Preston and his department don’t just talk the talk. They’ve been walking the walk of “act now.”
“It’s certainly something we focus on every day here, because our volumes are three to four times what they were just a year ago and we don’t see that declining anytime soon. So we focused on three things:
- We had a massive hiring program at the end of the 4th quarter to help us support the volume.
- We’ve just completed an expansion of our technology systems capacity so that we can handle the throughput of the new volume.
- We are going through a very significant business process re-engineering. So that we make our processes more efficient, we’re migrating many of them from paper-based to electronic. Doing any number of things that will help us be more efficient and responsive to Americans who need our help. And it is significantly increasing our ability to handle the capacity.
Preston says that in the past year, nearly 400,000 loans have been refinanced by HUD into a 30-year fixed-rate government insured product.
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On the web:
The Department of Housing and Urban Development – http://www.hud.gov/
HOPE for Homeowners – http://www.hopeforhomeownersprogram.org/
(Copyright 2008 by FederalNewsRadio.com. All Rights Reserved.)
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