NeighborWorks® America Calls for Mortgage Counseling Fund, National Foreclosure Consumer Awareness Campaign and New Mortgage Refinance Product

For Immediate Release

April 17, 2007
Contact: Douglas Robinson, NeighborWorks® America, 202-220-2360; drobinson@nw.org

NeighborWorks America Calls for Mortgage Counseling Fund, National Foreclosure Consumer Awareness Campaign and New Mortgage Refinance Product

Washington, DC - NeighborWorks America CEO Ken Wade today called for the mortgage finance and housing industry and government to work together to create a national first-time homebuyer counseling and education fund as a weapon in the fight against rising foreclosure rates.

In testimony before the House Financial Service Committee, Wade said that, “no first-time homebuyer should be denied a basic level of homebuyer education.” He added that pre-purchase mortgage counseling is the best defense against foreclosure.

Wade also advanced the idea that a national public service awareness campaign providing information about foreclosure prevention should be launched with support from the mortgage finance and housing industry and the federal government.

“Public service advertising campaigns have made a measurable difference in our society. For example, as a result of the Ad Council’s car seat-belt campaign, between the campaign launch in 1985 and 2003, seat belt usage increased from 14 to 79 percent, saving an estimated 85,000 lives, and $3.2 billion in costs to society,” explained Wade.

Finally, Wade called upon the innovators in the mortgage capital markets to develop a viable refinance mortgage solution for the tens of thousands of borrowers who are unable refinance their high-cost mortgages and save their homes.

“As credit for subprime borrowers has begun to tighten up in response to current challenges in the subprime market, there is a larger need than ever for a reasonably-priced mortgage refinance product,” said Wade. “Such a product is needed to assist families currently trapped in high-cost mortgages, as well as to assist additional families as more than 1.5 trillion dollars in adjustable-rate mortgages prepare to reset within the next two years.”

NeighborWorks America provides financial support, technical assistance and training for communities across the nation through the NeighborWorks network of over 235 nonprofit organizations covering nearly 4,500 urban, suburban and rural communities. These organizations engage in revitalization strategies that strengthen communities and transform lives. In the last five years alone, NeighborWorks organizations have generated more than $12 billion in reinvestment and helped more than 845,000 families of modest means purchase or improve their homes, or secure safe, decent rental or mutual housing.

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