Foreclosure Awareness

On Saturday March 14th, Chantay, Felipe, Jesse and I attended the Arvada Foreclosure Assistance Fair from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. We met Silvina, another contact with CHFA who was out of the country when we had our March 6th Meeting about the challenge. We met with many groups who assist in many different areas. We discovered there are government entities monitor subprime loans and lending practices. Subprime loans are initially are low annual percentage rates that skyrocket after a few years. We learned that there are free clinics for children who have no health insurance, food banks throughout colorado who will assist in food needs and additional resources that people can go to in their time of need.

I sat in on a couple who were looking at foreclosure and Rogelio Rodriguez, a counselor, helped them to look at their options. The couple, were pregnant and the husband had lost his job. They were not behind in their payments, yet. Rogelio, advised them to get their information together and to go into speak with a FREE agency in order to better assess what can be done.

The questions the couple had, I believe helps to understand the frustration homeowners go through. Aside from what do I do now, they had questions about their credit and how this would affect the future, what exactly was the process, how long did they have, did they have to pay back whatever the difference was between what they are paying now and the plan they were placed on, what was the first step in the process, what was the last step. I could definitely see how it would be difficult to face foreclosure.

After Rogelio spoke with them, they said they felt much better. They would gather together their information, figure out who their lender was and then speak with a counselor. I asked the lady when she was due, and she said "4 weeks-hopefully." I felt relieved for the family, because they looked more peaceful when they left then when they had sat down with us.

Both the Foreclosure Hotline and the Assistance Fair helped me realize how difficult this process is for many people. That they spend days and nights, worrying about the well-being of their family and lives. And, economically, foreclosure may well be on the rise until next summer-according to Sneed, a Remax real estate agent who was also at the Assistance Fair.

More to come soon...