Grammy Winners Help Fight Foreclosed Homes
April 21st, 2009 by 
Joseph Smith
Homeowners in Georgia who are worrying their houses would become foreclosed homes received some unexpected encouragement from Hollywood celebrities.
Grammy winners Mary J. Blige and Big Boi joined the Bringing Hope Home tour in its Atlanta stop in a bus marked with the Hope Now Alliance hotline 888-995-HOPE. Big Boi, half of the music duo OutKast, is a native of Atlanta.
The bus tour made stops in Kirkwood, Reynoldstown and downtown Atlanta where the musicians and counselors advised homeowners to call free foreclosure prevention hotlines and not to contact paid counseling scammers.
Suzanne Boas, head of the Atlanta nonprofit group Consumer Credit Counseling Service, said the counseling service is free and confidential. She is urging homeowners to call before their houses are added to lists of foreclosed homes.
The presence of Blige and Big Boi attracted crowds and homeowners finding solutions to prevent their houses from becoming foreclosed homes.
One of them is 28-year-old Tara Harp who was unable to pay two months of her mortgage amortizations after having a car accident. Consumer Credit helped her restructure her mortgage loan and set up a personal budget. Her counselor advised her to carpool and have a roommate to save on costs.
On the other hand, 44-year-old Paris Rhoden was not able to save his house from the threat of foreclosure, but he was successful in preserving his good credit. With support from the Resources for Residents and Communities, from whom he bought his house several years ago, he sold the house and then moved into a rental apartment. Having prevented his credit record from being tainted with the mark of foreclosed homes, Rhoden plans to save to be able to buy another house from the same resource center.
Young Hughley, chief executive officer of RRC, said many people approach the center when it is already too late to recommend a helpful solution. Some homeowners may not get the help they are expecting from the center, but they can at least get some useful suggestions on how they can get through their problems.
Housing counselors said many homeowners are scared to confront their fears of having their houses turned to foreclosed homes. They ignore letters of payment warnings from their lenders.
Eric Selk, a HOPE NOW project manager, said the alliance’s Atlanta project sent thousands of letters to distressed homeowners in Atlanta and surrounding areas. He said mortgage lenders who are working with HOPE NOW prefer negotiating payment plans with borrowers because they lose about $50,000 for every unit added to lists of foreclosed homes.
