Foreclosed Homes Unite With Homeowners
Help is on the way for home owners who live in the South Jersey area and are caught in the foreclosure crisis. A new program was announced by the Colonial Bank and the Tri-County Community Action Partnership, which is to help households facing foreclosure, at a press conference at the Delsea Drive headquarters of the Colonial Bank.
They are looking to help fifty families in the area.
Tri-County’s president and CEO, Albert Kelly, while speaking of the Second Chance Foreclosure Prevention Program said that this was the time for the partnership to be formed. With more than 1,000 homes involved in foreclosures in Bridgeton, Vineland and Millville, it is evident that the program needs to take effect as soon as possible, he added.
The agency is to buy foreclosed homes and lease them to their former homeowners under this Tri-County program, with funding of one million dollars being provided by the Colonial Bank. The homeowners will also undergo education in regards to financial planning and budgeting as well as information on repairing credit.
Recommendations are in place for a three member committee to be formed in order to go through and pass applications for buying the foreclosed homes. The program aims at homeowners eventually being able to buy back their homes.
To qualify for the Second Chance Foreclosure Prevention Program certain criteria are in place.
Another aspect of the program, which starts immediately, is to provide home owners facing foreclosures links of services such as the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency which provides ‘bail out loans’, while at the same time providing the home owners with education in regards to financial planning and budgeting.
If the home were to be refinanced or sold in the future, the loan, which could be up-to $10,000, would need to be paid back.
Besides Tri-County in Bridgeton, AHOME in Millville also helps home owners facing foreclosure by assisting them in rearranging their finances and negotiating loan ‘terms and conditions’ with the lenders.
