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Financial Flash Newsletter

OnTrack Receives Statewide Foreclosure Prevention Award

OnTrack was recently recognized with an award from the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency  for achieving the “Highest Approval Rate” for North Carolina’s Home Protection Program.    

The General Assembly created the Home Protection Program in 2004 through collaboration with the NC Housing Finance Agency, the NC Justice Center, and the NC Housing Coalition. Since then, the program has helped more than 500 families pay their mortgage while they seek jobs or retrain for new ones. In addition:

  • More than 700 homeowners have benefited from a 120-day stay-of-foreclosure;
  • $60 million of property has been saved from foreclosure; and
  • More than 5,000 homeowners have benefited from financial counseling.

How it Works: The Home Protection Program provides zero-interest, deferred loans to homeowners who have lost their job or had a reduction in income due to changing economic conditions.  The mortgage assistance is available while the homeowner looks for another job or retrains for a new career.  (There are additional eligibility and underwriting guidelines to qualify for the program.  Click the link at the end of this article more information.)  

North Carolina’s unemployment rate is hovering at 11 percent and has been impacted by large employers such as Dell and Sony Ericsson closing.  Western NC is not immune; closings and reductions in force have occurred in several major WNC employers including Coates American, Anvil Knitwear and General Electric; and Volvo Construction Equipment announced its plan to close the Asheville plant in March 2010.  For these and other displaced workers the Home Protection Program offers hope and a way to maintain their mortgage during the transition to new employment.  

“The Home Protection Program harnesses the benefits of unemployment insurance, education benefits, and our own loss mitigation services, by providing the client time to retrain for a new career,” commented Tom Luzon, OnTrack Director of Counseling Services. 

Over the program’s history, OnTrack has closed 34 HPP loans in WNC.  Since the program piloted, OnTrack has been engaged in its continued improvement and currently sits on the statewide advisory board. 

Luzon continued, “The combination of social services in tandem with the mortgage relief assistance provides the client an opportunity to recharge, retrain, and find another viable career.  So many times our clients tell us that they never could have afforded to retrain had it not been for the mortgage assistance.”

In a recent program expansion, OnTrack hired Christopher Berthiaume as the HPP Coordinator.  A graduate of Warren Wilson, Chris has worked in sales and customer service with a software developer and consultant, domestic micro-lenders and international microfinance consulting agencies.   Chris’ most recent position at OnTrack in the counseling support department has provided him loss mitigation expertise and experience collaborating with statewide partners and government agencies.

Click here for more information on OnTrack’s Home Protection Program.

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