By Aurora Olivares, Housing Counselor at Project Sentinel, one of the members of ForeclosureHelpSCC
Have you heard of the Keep Your Home California program? (KYHC) 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.
Are you like Michelle?
I recently was contacted by a woman who was laid off two months ago. She received a flyer from her local EDD office about the Keep Your Home California program. Michelle had used up her savings and was concerned about her ability to pay her mortgage while unemployed. I met with her the following day to go over the Unemployment Mortgage Assistance (UMA) program. Michelle met all the requirements in order to apply for the Unemployment Mortgage Assistance program and her application was submitted the same day.
Michelle kept in contact with the Keep Your Home California team and provided all documents needed for the eligibility review. Michelle’s review went smoothly and she was approved for the UMA program. Michelle was approved to have KYHC make her payments for up to up to 9 months while she looked to secure new employment and had KYHC administer her first mortgage installment before her payment was due, helping her preserve her credit.
Here are some quick facts about the Keep Your Home California 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
The Customer Bullhorn 
Do you have any programs for home owners who have already lost there homes and now need assistance for rent?
Good morning Laurie,
Are you here in San Jose? If you want to give us a call, we can direct you to some local resources. Our phone number is 408-293-6000.
A few options to get you started (depending on the specifics of your situation):
http://www.housingtrustscc.org/programs/homelessness_prevention.php
http://www.hifinfo.org/need-help/
http://www.scchousingsearch.org
You may also want to read our post on renting again: Help with rental assistance after a foreclosure-What’s out there?
We already received your help. It was so helpful for us to keep our home.
We don’t know how to say our thanks for that.
But I have a question. Should I report that fund I received from KYHC as income when Tax return?
Thank you Daniel, we’re glad to hear that! This is from the Keep Your Home CA website: http://keepyourhomecalifornia.org/faqs.htm#Q1098-1
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Hi, I live in Orange County and I have been out of work for almost 1 year. I am currently on unemployment, however, that may be running out and we have exhausted all of our savings to keep afloat. We were able to get our mortgage loan modified over a year ago but when my job was eliminated it is looking really bleak! Is there an office in OC or a web site for me to apply for KYHC? Thank you,
Jim E
Hello,
Thank you for writing. The direct number for Keep Your Home California is: 888-954-KEEP(5337)
There are a number of agencies in Southern California: http://keepyourhomecalifornia.org/counseling.htm#Southern
There are also state-wide agencies: http://keepyourhomecalifornia.org/counseling.htm#Entire
As you’re probably aware, time is of the essence in applying because you HAVE to be approved for or already receiving unemployment benefits for the Unemployment Program: “With recent estimates that 400,000 Californians could lose their unemployment benefits unless Congress extends them, it is particularly important for homeowners who are unemployed to get their applications in NOW while they are still receiving unemployment. A homeowner WILL NOT qualify for Keep Your Home California Unemployment Assistance program unless they are receiving or are approved for unemployment benefits.” More here: https://foreclosurehelpscc.wordpress.com/2012/12/21/helpful-resources-if-youre-facing-foreclosure-by-foreclosure-help-scc/
Thank you for writing and good luck!
Hi,
I have a question. If you’ve helped a homeowner with KYH funds 9 months ago, can he receive forgiveness of the KYH loan since he is insolvent and needs to sale the property?
Hello Raul,
I would contact Keep Your Home California directly to ask them: 888-954-KEEP(5337).
Thank you
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My bank which is BOA states that our investor do not participate in PRINCIPAL REDUCTION Therefore, they still wants us to pay almost 400,000 principal balance. Is it true that homewoners do not have power or not qualified for the said program, if investors are not participating in principal reduction even we cannot afford and aside from the value of the property is upside down? Thus, we have to pay previous value of our property. Second, BOA made at least 4 mistakes in our property/files and the latest one is, they approved us on October 19 2012 and last November 2012 is our first PAYMENT under trial payment period, however within 24 hours period we received two principal balances that leads two different mortgages amount, which the second one is unaffordable for us to pay and forced us to pay it.BOA do not admit the mistake and does not want to take responsibility to correct it either, their comment is, ‘WE ARE HUMAN, WE MAKE MISTAKES AND nothinng GOING TO CHANGE.” Third, my husband is a truck driver and on the second month of our trial period which December 2012, my husband truck went under repair due to gas leak and had to come back to terminal for repair after driving a day or two, so our pay check got affected since he gets paid by mileage and we informed the bank of our situation and they response is negative. They dont want to work with us, We are just asking for two weeks extension.Fourthly,IN the MIDST OF ALL OF THIS, my mother had diagnosed with breast cancer so as my sister in the same year and a year later my brother in law got diagnosed with bone cance and died last October 2010. And my husband and I had to helped each one of them.Lastly, our deliquents is so HIGH beacause of the 4 mistakes they had created since 2009 until now, They want us to pay for it with our mortgage. Our stress is so high for the past 3 years and we still hanging on because this is OUR RETIREMENT HOME! This time, we cannot tolerate it anymore, therefore we are searching and looking for HELP WITH SOLUTIONS! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH BOA! WE ARE CONTROLLED, ABUSED AND PRISONED IN OUR OWN HOME!
Just reaching and searching for help, One of California struggling HOMEOWNERS!
Riza and family, Riverside California
Hello Riza,
Thank you for writing, a few suggestions/answers to your questions:
1) Yes, you are correct, if the investor does not participate in the principal reduction program, then it won’t work for your situation.
2) If you have complaints about Bank of America, you may want to look into:
The California Monitor for the National Attorney General Settlement: http://californiamonitor.org/
3) The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently announced new rules to improve mortgage loan servicing, you can read about them here: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/blog/new-rules-fewer-runarounds-for-mortgage-borrowers/
4) If you haven't already, you may want to reach out to a HUD-approved housing counseling agency near the Riverside area to see if they can assist. The link for HUD approved agencies in California is here: http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/hcc/hcs.cfm?webListAction=search&searchstate=CA
5) In our experience, it’s really important for the homeowner to stay “in the driver’s seat” when working with the bank and to stay in constant contact with them. Homeowners often have to be the “connector” between departments at the bank (who may not be speaking with each other). I’m pasting in information from two postings from our HUD-approved counselors from earlier this year:
Maggie’s Five Rules for Working with Your Bank or Servicer
Loan Modification: How To Be Successful
Thank you for writing.
Sean Coffey
Program Manager, Foreclosure Help
How and when is the difference of the mortgage payment repaid?
Hello Haileen,
Thank you for writing-
This is from the UMA program description on the Keep Your Home California website. You can read the full description here: http://keepyourhomecalifornia.org/programs/uma.pdf
From
8. Structure of Assistance: CalHFA MAC will structure the assistance as a non-recourse, non-interest bearing subordinate loan in favor of the Eligible Entity (CalHFA MAC) secured by a junior lien recorded against the property in the amount of the total reduced PITI and any escrowed homeowner’s association dues or assessments, and equal to the total amount of HHF unemployment assistance. At the conclusion of (3) three years, the subordinate loan will be released. Loan funds will only be repaid to Eligible Entity (CalHFA MAC) in the event of a sale or a refinance that includes cash out with sufficient net equity proceeds prior to forgiveness. Recovered funds will be recycled in order to provide additional program assistance until December 31,
UMA 07/12/2017, at which time any recovered funds will be returned to Treasury.
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I’m currently on unemployment, home loan is current. Do we need to deplete our savings before we qualify for mortgage payment assistance? Thank you!
Hello Bill,
Are you located in San Jose, CA? If so, please contact our hotline at 408-293-7400. Thanks!
Does Keep Your Home California still pay mortgage even when unemployment runs out?
From the KYHC website:
Homeowners are encouraged to explore free HUD foreclosure prevention counseling, which could help you qualify for other programs. Homeowners should also contact their servicer to learn more about other foreclosure prevention options such as the Making Home Affordable Unemployment Program which can provide temporary relief from mortgage payments for up to 12 months. Some of these may include transition to other foreclosure alternatives, such as deed-in-lieu of foreclosure or short sale. Details on this will be covered during your initial telephone counseling session with the Keep Your Home California staff.