December 2010 Consumer Advisory

Mounting Mortgage Payments? Call the Iowa Mortgage Help Hotline!

If you can’t make payments or face foreclosure, there’s free help

There’s been a lot in the news lately about foreclosures, and the Attorney General’s efforts to look into many foreclosure practices.  If you are struggling to pay your mortgage, you’re falling behind on payments or you face possible foreclosure, don’t wait for news to happen – ACT NOW before it’s too late!

The Iowa Mortgage Help Hotline is here to help.  With one call, trained mortgage counselors may be able to help identify the best course of action for many situations.  If you risk losing your home to foreclosure, you should call the Iowa Mortgage Help Hotline at 1-877-622-4866.  It’s free, effective, confidential, and staffed entirely by Iowans across the state.

The Iowa Mortgage Help Hotline is a toll-free number answered right here in Iowa.  As an independent third party, Hotline counselors are trained, respectful, and nonjudgmental.  They’ll determine whether borrowers, their lenders and their loan servicers can find a long-term solution to help you avoid foreclosure.  The Hotline is voluntary for all parties, and it does NOT offer funds or payments to borrowers.

If you call the Hotline, be prepared to provide a complete, honest explanation of your circumstances.  Your straightforward answers and information will better allow counselors to address your situation.  Hotline counselors will explore whether restructuring a loan or some other arrangement might benefit both you and the lender.

Foreclosure hurts everyone – borrowers lose their home, lenders incur losses, and communities suffer.  The goal of the Hotline is to put borrowers and lenders together to find solutions.  More than 12,000 Iowans have filed applications with the Iowa Mortgage Help Hotline.

Who should call the Iowa Foreclosure Hotline?
Call if you are now in foreclosure.  Call if you are seriously behind in payments and are facing default (which can lead to foreclosure).  Call even if you foresee that you won’t be able to make future payments.  The Hotline cannot help everyone, but trying to save your home is worth the free phone call.  Counselors may be able to help you work through your mortgage maze and find out if a loan modification or other solution can work.  The sooner you make the call, the more likely the Hotline may be able to help you!

            If you think you think you may be a victim of predatory lending, mortgage rescue scams, or mortgage fraud, contact the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division, Hoover Bldg., Des Moines, IA 50319.  Call 515-281-5926 or 1-888-777-4590 toll-free, or e-mail consumer@iowa.gov.  On the Web: http://www.iowaattorneygeneral.gov