Kentucky “Preserving the American Dream”

Posted on November 21st, 2008 by saman

Kentucky homeowners struggling to keep their homes out of foreclosure have a new resource that may provide instantaneous relief from their financial stress. The Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati announced Monday that it will award $400,000 in grants to homeowners who meet certain qualifications and are willing to go through a credit counseling course with another local business, Community Ventures Corp.

Homeowners in need who do qualify for the assistance will receive up to $3,500 each. These are not loans, but rather grants which will not have to be paid back in the future. The hope is that some homeowners who are behind on their payments will be able to save their homes and the rise in Kentucky foreclosures for sale might be relieved a little. Homeowners having trouble paying their mortgage payments in the declining economy will now have one more resource to help them through the hard times.

Kentucky residents hoping to receive a grant must apply through Community Ventures Corp. in Lexington. Community Ventures is a program which provides foreclosure counseling, home refinancing, and even rescue loans for homeowners in the local region. Just this year alone, they have helped around 500 homeowners get through struggles with their home lenders.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati is backing this program as well as others in the region. This is a large bank with $95 billion plus dollars of assets which allows it to loan money to hundreds of banks in the surrounding region. They have loaned money to banks in Ohio and Tennessee as well to help the many homeowners in need living in this region. Federal Home Loan banks do not get the same national attention as Freddie Mac and Frannie Mae so many homeowners may not have previously been aware of the valuable help they offer. They play an extremely important role in the local financial community.

The program is being called “Preserving the American Dream” and will help struggling homeowners in 52 Kentucky counties, including Jefferson and Fayette. The grants will be made available right away to help homeowners who do not have much time to waste if they are going to save their homes from foreclosure.

While the states in the Kentucky region are not suffering from the rapid inflation of home prices followed by the current crash of home prices, but these states still have issues with home foreclosures which need to be addressed. This program is aimed to avoid a lot of home foreclosures which are bad for everyone involved from lender and homeowner to the community as a whole.

The Federal Home Loan Bank will set aside $2 million of private money to hand for the Preserving the American Dream home mortgage grants. Several Kentucky banks will also be involved to help identify homeowners which might benefit from the grants, are willing to go through the counseling program, and qualify in all rights for the grants.