Bucks County Starts Foreclosure Program
A conference among the lender, borrower and a retired county judge could lead to a plan to salvage the home.
By Jenna Portnoy, Staff Writer, The Intelligencer 6/12/2009
Bucks County residents served with mortgage foreclosure papers will also receive an "urgent notice" announcing a free program that could help them stay in their homes, regardless of income level.
The Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program is a pilot program of the county courts system, Legal Aid of Southeastern pennsylvania and the Bucks County Bar Association.
President Judge Susan Devlin Scott signed an order for the program June 5, and is slated to begin during the week of July 6.
Here's how it works:
Residents in trouble should call the Home Hotline, 866-760-8911, upon receiving the notice to arrange a meeting with a housing counselor who will collect information on their financial situation.
The information will be passed on to attorney Isaac Garb, who is a retired county judge. Then Garb, the lender and the homeowner will participate in a conference.
"I will be conducting conferences with the creditor, mortgager and mortgagee to help them work out a plan so the debtor can salvage their home," Garb said. "The goal would be to avoid all mortgage foreclosures but that is totally unrealistic. Some mortgagees may not take advantage of this opportunity."
In other situations, the lender may not agree to adeal with the homeowner, who, for example is unemployed, he said.
According to figures compiled by the prothonotary's office, foreclosure filings have increased from a monthly average of 95 in 2006 to 124 in 2007 and 148 last year. Through March 1 of this year, there were 262 filings.
Although filings are on the rise, court administrator Doug Praul said the county doesn't know how many people will choose to participate in the conferences.
"We know we have increased filings of foreclosure," he said, "but we don't know how many of those are people who want help or need help and the pilot program will find out if there are people who fit into either of those categories."
The program is paid for through the end of the year because a current county staffer will arrange the conferences, county attorneys will volunteer their time and Garb is already under contract with the county for $20,000 a year.
The housing counseling effort is not unique to Bucks County.
On Thursday, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and other mayors from across the country called for states to enact stronger laws requiring conferences like the optional ones planned in Bucks.
The mayors said settlement conferences between lenders and borrowers should be mandatory prior to foreclosure sales, according to a statement from the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Philadelphia has had success with a program of door to door outreach to people whose homes are set for foreclosure. In the first year, 1,200 homeowners reached settlements and another 1,500 are in negotiation. ###