Free Foreclosure Help from New Websites of Fannie Mae and Hope Now

Published by nora | Filed under Buyer / Seller Tips, Miscellaneous, Mortgage / Finance, Real Estate

Here are better websites for you if you’re looking for foreclosure help. These sites are different from others as they offer a lot of options and they’re not run by private financial or foreclosure consultants who usually shape their advice to persuade you to obtain their paid services.

KnowYourOptions.com

This is a new site launched this month by Fannie Mae, a government-sponsored enterprise that buys home mortgages made by lenders, helping ensure that lenders always have funds to lend to borrowers at affordable rates. It does not give loans directly to borrowers, but it helps provide funds for lending.

One the unique features of this site is a section of videos of homeowners relating their stories of how they saved their homes, along with videos of counselors talking about how they can help distressed borrowers. On the home page of this site, you can immediately see links to various options that you can consider, such as short sale, deed-in-lieu, repayment plan, forbearance, modification or deed for lease. There’s also a self-guided options finder, which enables you to decide which options are best for you just by answering questions one at a time.

Other helpful resources available at the site are a financial checklist, a Fannie Mae loan lookup, a credit score guide and calculators for forbearance, refinance, repayment, modification, loan-to-value, and debt-to-income estimation.

Hope LoanPort at hopeloanportal.org   

On this website, free housing counselors use the trademarked LoanPort system to help you gather required documents for the Home Affordable Modification Program, upload your complete application directly to loan servicers, and monitor the status of your HAMP application.

The first ten mortgage servicers that have agreed to use the Hope LoanPort system were Chase, City, GMAC, American Home Mortgage Servicing, Bayview Loan Servicing, Ocwen Loan Servicing, PNC Mortgage, OneWest, SunTrust Mortgage and Saxon Mortgage Services. Bank of America, the largest mortgage servicer in the U.S. with one BofA mortgage in every five mortgages, has joined the LoanPort network in June.

The LoanPort system was developed by the Hope Now Alliance, an alliance of 21 large non-profit counseling organizations, 37 large mortgage lenders, three trade associations, five mortgage insurance companies, two mortgage market organizations and the two government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Mymoney.gov

This website is different from all the other personal finance websites as it is run by 20 U.S. federal agencies and bureaus. It offers information on almost anything about managing your money and handling life events such as birth, adoption, college, job loss, retirement and death of a family member. It provides checklists and worksheets, including downloads for quick reference.

Knowyouroptions.com and Mymoney.gov have versions in Spanish while hopeloanportal.org can be translated to several languages through the Google translator.