Nationwide Increase In Foreclosures Due To Failing Health?

Posted on October 8th, 2007 by saman

Have you ever missed a mortgage payment? Have you ever been on the end of a default notice, bank repossession or auction sale notice? Are you currently experiencing problems paying for your mortgage due to ailing health? If you are, then you are not alone. It has been reported that in Dane County, Wisconsin, there have been 742 foreclosure filings in the past twelve months alone. Comparing this to the twelve month period before that, and the amount has quadrupled. This is all according to an online database of foreclosure properties called RealtyTrac. In one month alone, they had 103 foreclosure filings. This is an increase of 43% from just one year ago. These figures are proving a nationwide increase in foreclosure filings and Kate Nardi, a counselor with the Dane County Housing Authority, has commented that the number of calls she’s receiving are from home-owners suffering financial difficulties, many of whom are experiencing health problems. Health problems are becoming a major contributing factor to mortgage defaults. Half of the clients that Kate Nardi represents are subprime borrowers. These have poor credit reports and can therefore only apply for mortgages at higher interest rates than typical mortgages. There is also the adjustable rate mortgage that have monthly repayments that fluctuate depending on current interest rates, sometimes resulting in payments that the borrowers simply cannot afford. The President of the Wisconsin Mortgage Bankers Association has advised borrowers who are confronting foreclosure should contact their mortgage companies and attempt to renegotiate the terms of the loan, or try and refinance with a lower interest rate with another lender. There are many cases of home-owners defaulting on their loan due to health issues. One couple from Janesville received a second foreclosure filing after a payment was rejected for the simple reason that it was a personal check instead of a cashier’s check. They have three children, and were faced with foreclosure when a disease that causes the body to attack it’s own healthy cells struck down the wife of the couple. The husband consequently had to stay at home and care for her and therefore missed mortgage payments. This is not an isolated case, one woman described how she was involved in a car accident and informed the mortgage company that the payment would be late and they wouldn’t accept it until she had started a brand new payment plan. A military service man was injured after he joined the service to try and keep up repayments. They almost lost the family home, built by the serviceman’s father, but Laura Shuster, a private foreclosure counselor, and managed to retain the house. Shuster also experienced foreclosure filings, once when she was going through a divorce, and a second time when her payment was short by just $16! She now describes herself as an “intrepid entrepreneur” and has written a book on surviving foreclosure and started a business called the “Home Redemption Institute” She is also the forefront of a new nationwide network of home redemption specialists to prevent other home-owners face foreclosure. She explains that the information to help home-owners placed in these situations needs to be spread, which she seems determined to do!