Home Mortgage Expert Comments on President’s Announcement

Statement of Colleen Hernandez,
President and Executive Director
Homeownership Preservation Foundation

WASHINGTON, D.C. – December 6 - Colleen Hernandez, President and Executive Director, of the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, the national non-profit organization that operates, (888) 995-HOPE to assist troubled homeowners, today issued the following statement in response to President Bush’s announcement on housing issues:

“Today’s developments underscore the importance of using trained mortgage counselors to understand how President Bush’s announcement impacts individual homeowners.

Our understanding is that the plan announced by the President today would apply to borrowers with loans with interest rates scheduled to adjust between January 2008 and July 2010, who are current on their payments.  Our counselors remain focused on today’s announcement as details of the plan continue to emerge.

In general, the President’s announcement will create more questions for nervous homeowners.  We encourage Americans, whether or not they believe that they qualify for the program introduced today, to contact their mortgage company or to take advantage of our trained counselors, reachable at (888) 995-HOPE, who can help them to understand these developments.

We continue to add counselors to build our capacity and remain committed to serving at-risk homeowners across the country.

As a member of the HOPE Now Alliance, I appreciate the efforts of the President, Secretary Paulson and Secretary Jackson and look forward to working with them, Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi in continuing our nation’s response to this crisis.”