A place to call home is essential in life.
But sometimes financial challenges may lead to falling behind on monthly mortgage or rent.
You are not alone.
Waiting to Talk to You are Experienced, HUD-Certified 995Hope Counselors:
- Greg Nelson, an experienced professional with seven years of experience. Who works out of 995Hope’s Las Vegas, Nevada location.
- Paul Flynn, who has more than 20 years of mortgage industry experience and his background is primarily focused on foreclosure prevention.
- Richard Schroeder, with 20+ plus years of experience as an educator and counselor.
Along with the entire team, these expert counselors can immediately start a conversation about where you are today, and how you can accomplish your financial goals.
Shared here is a recent conversation with these three expert counselors.
Question: When is the best time to call a counselor?
Paul:
“Immediately,” says Paul Flynn, He is passionate about helping clients. “Don’t wait. Getting help as soon as possible, including a different perspective than just your mortgage servicer is vital to the borrower’s ability to think and act clearly, no matter the current situation with your mortgage, HUD counselors should not be a best kept secret.
“As a free resource and not a debt collector, we listen with empathy and understand your current situation, needs and goals, while providing ‘realistic’ options, as well as the impacts of those options, in layman’s terms. One size does not fit all.”
Richard:
“With housing issues, as soon as you feel you are having trouble with your mortgage – for instance hardships with making payments, loss or reduction in income, family tragedy — you should reach out to a HUD approved counselor to discuss options that might be available from the lender,” he explains. “By calling a counselor, you will be able to go through a financial assessment to see if there are things in your budget that you may be missing to help make adjustments.
“Our counselors have many resources to assist clients. In recent conversations, we’ve helped callers identify resources for utility assistance, legal assistance, food assistance, employment assistance, home repair, even rental assistance, to name a few.”
Question: What is the biggest stressor you hear from callers?
Greg:
“Although topics might vary, most callers are stressed about a lack of answers or understanding their situation. That’s where we can help provide some clarity and give solid advice for next steps through a customized action plan.”
Paul:
“Fear of the unknown, frustration with servicer communication, insufficient income to balance the budget due to hardship or permanent reduction of income. A servicer perspective can help clients remove emotional barriers. The foreclosure process varies by state, options exist that may allow clients to slow or suspend foreclosure activity. Sharing a timeline with clients assists with their next action steps and path forward to relieve stress.”
Richard:
“Some of the biggest stressors I hear from callers is the uncertainty of what is going to happen to their home when they are struggling to make their payments.” says Richard. “The stress of possibly losing their home to foreclosure and having nowhere to go with their family.”
“Lenders tend to discuss non-retention options right away and not make the
outcome for clients optimistic. When clients call in to speak with counselors, we are able to calmly assess the situation and advise clients there may be other options. We are able to call the lender on a three way call and ask the correct questions to discover options available to the client. As a bilingual counselor, the stressors become larger because clients struggle with the language barrier. They receive letters in the mail or phone calls but don’t understand what is happening. Many times by the time they call us the situation is severe because time goes by and they may be many months behind or already in the foreclosure process.”
Stay Tuned
Visit our blog in the upcoming weeks, where we’ll continue the conversation.
Your first step is to call 995Hope. Get help from experienced professionals.
