Wall Street Trader Saves 36 Homes from Foreclosure Listings
April 21st, 2009 by 
Joseph Smith
An idea that came out of the blue during a bar talk among Wall Street traders in Manhattan has gone a long way. Last weekend, the idea has saved 36 houses from being added to list of foreclosures.
Christopher Meek, the Goldman Sachs trader who thought of organizing a foreclosure counseling event while talking with his colleagues at a bar in Manhattan, was able to persuade representatives from five mortgage banks to attend the foreclosure counseling event held at the Yerwood Center in Stamford, Connecticut.
Most homeowners who were successful in getting their loans modified and prevented their houses from foreclosure listings were customers of HSBC who sent eight loan representatives to the event. HSBC, which has a branch in Stamford, previously promoted the counseling event to its clients in nearby areas.
The other banks which joined the event were New Alliance Bank, People’s United Bank, Freedom Mortgage and Webster Bank. Housing counselors from nonprofit organizations Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, Housing Development Fund and Urban League of Southern Connecticut also participated.
More than 100 distressed homeowners hoping to save their homes from foreclosure listings attended the three-hour event. The 36 borrowers whose loans were modified had their monthly payments reduced by up to $564.
Meek, who lives in Stamford, said the personal interaction between the borrower and the lender leads to faster resolution of problems.
In 2008, there were 116 foreclosures in Stamford, over three times foreclosure filings in 2007.
One of the homeowners whose houses were saved from foreclosure listings was a resident of Norwalk whose salary at a rubber and plastics factory was reduced by 20 percent. Her husband’s business as a general contractor also dried up because of the recession. She said she was about to pay $1,000 to a professional who was offering to modify her loan when she heard about the event from Carol Sydnor, an executive at the Mutual Housing Association.
During the event, Meek also distributed flyers given by the Federal Reserve to help people avoid being victimized by scammers.
Meek, encouraged by the 36 homeowners whose houses were saved from foreclosure listings, has already organized his second foreclosure prevention event at the same venue on May 30. He is hoping he can get other large banks to participate, such as Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo. He is also planning to hold events in Bridgeport and Norwalk to help more Americans save their homes from foreclosure listings.
