Hope And Foreclosure Rescue Plans

Posted on May 9th, 2008 by hinson

The Governor of Florida, Charlie Christie, is optimistic that The Florida Home Ownership promoting the Economy Task Force (HOPE) will be able to bring down the record breaking number of foreclosures. HOPE is upbeat about its rescue plans. It will be concentrating on a three fold programme – keeping people in the houses that are their homes, preventing foreclosure and giving protection to the consumers. The task force is requesting the governor that the loan servicers and providers be asked to sincerely try out all the options available to achieve these objectives. Foreclosures should come last on the list of options and for this all available resources should be employed.

Another step being taken is to set up the Home Ownership Preservation Center at a centralized point for the equitable distribution of information. It feels there is an urgent need for basic education programmes to spread financial literacy. The HOPE Council aims to provide continued guidance through its Mortgage Fraud Task Force. The fields to be covered are legislation, regulating controls, education and above all options for preventing of foreclosures. As a final crucial step this task force is requesting the lenders to inform when borrowers may qualify for a mortgage – a mortgage that will not belong to sub-prime, high cost or non-conventional category.

HOPE made its debut in 2007 following an order from Governor Chris who had taken into consultation experts from the lending community (mortgage and banking sections) together with advocates of consumers as well as government official. Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp leads HOPE. He admits that the task is confusing and difficult – to say the least. The issue at stake is the impact of foreclosures on the economy of Florida. Governor Crist said ‘Foreclosures hurts all Floridians by depressing home values and causing families to lose homes, jobs and hope.’ Last year Florida ranked second in the national foreclosure race. The foreclosure numbers were double that of 2006. In 2007 one out of 95 houses were stained with foreclosure. The filings were up by 275% from the previous year. Starting with 3rd March 2008 the task force will be meeting four times in Tallahassee. The task force will make a detailed study of the sub-prime market and the borrowers in tandem with the banking and mortgage houses, the current laws and rules that relate to the foreclosure process and identify the private and public financial resources as well as educational opportunities with the sole purpose of helping the Floridians beleaguered with foreclosures.