By Aurora Olivares, Housing Counselor at Project Sentinel, one of the members of ForeclosureHelpSCC

Have you heard of the Keep Your Home California program? Are you unsure how the program works to help struggling homeowners avoid preventable foreclosures? A few homeowners I’ve worked with here in the Bay Area are good examples of how Keep Your Home California works.

Meet Ron.

Earlier this year I received a call from Ron. He had medical issues that prevented him from working full time. He drew from his 401K to pay medical bills while he recuperated. During this time, Ron fell behind on his mortgage payments. Ron regained his health and was back to his old self with a steady income but was unable to catch up on the $10,000 in delinquent mortgage payments from when he was ill and fell behind on his mortgage. After struggling to reach an agreement with his mortgage company, he heard about the Keep Your Home California program and called to set up a counseling appointment.

I met with Ron and after learning more about his situation, I determined that he was an ideal candidate for the Mortgage Reinstatement Assistance Program (MRAP). Ron lived in the property with the past due payments, he was not in bankruptcy, had a loan balance under $729,750 and had an affordable payment after overcoming his medical hardship.

I worked with Ron to submit an application for the Mortgage Reinstatement Assistance Program through Keep Your Home California. After submitting the necessary paperwork, meeting investor guidelines, and working closely with the Keep Your Home California processing team, Ron was funded $10,000 to bring his mortgage current. Through this program, Ron was able to remain in his home.

In our next post, I’ll discuss a homeowner who successfully used the Unemployment Mortgage Assistance Program, which is also part of Keep Your Home California. In the meantime, I’m including program information below.

Here are some quick facts about the program:
Your lender/servicer must participate in the program in order to qualify for the Keep Your Home California funds. Each lender/servicer can participate in as little as one or in all four of the Keep Your Home California programs.

Is my bank or servicer participating in Keep Your Home California?
Check this list: Servicers Participating in Your Home California

There are 4 award programs:

• UMA-Unemployment Mortgage Assistance Program: Is designed to assist unemployed homeowners who are receiving EDD benefits.
• MRAP-Mortgage Reinstatement Assistance Program: This program can help by reinstating past due payments.
• PRP-Principal Reduction Program: Homeowners who owe more than their property is worth, may be eligible for a principle reduction.
• TAP-Transitional Assistance Program: Provides a payment of up to $5,000 to help homeowners, who cannot retain their home transition into new housing.

The Keep Your Home California program applies to primary mortgages in first position only. Second mortgages or home equity lines of credit are not eligible for Keep Your Home California programs. The property must be owner occupied and located in the state of California. The loan balance on the first mortgage is below $729,750. The homeowner(s) cannot be in bankruptcy while applying for Keep Your Home California Program.

Will you be the next success story?
To find out more about these four programs, or to set up an appointment with a housing counselor who can discuss these programs with you, contact ForeclosureHelpSCC by calling us at (408) 293-6000. You can also email us at help@foreclosurehelpscc.org or visit our website: www.foreclosurehelpscc.org.

Please note: All content included in the ForeclosureHelpSCC blog is provided for information only and should NOT be considered legal or tax advice. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us on our hotline: (408)-293-6000, or visit our website: www.foreclosurehelpscc.org