Learn how to keep your home safe from foreclosure
A free "Keep Your Home" foreclosure-prevention event will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 2, at Hemmens Cultural Center, 45 Symphony Way, Elgin.
More than 100 volunteer real estate attorneys and HUD-certified counselors will review, for free, homeowners' paperwork and determine if they qualify for assistance under the "Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan" - known as "Making Home Affordable." If so, an application will be prepared on-site and submitted to the loan servicer that day via the Internet.
For details, visit makinghomeaffordable.gov.
In the first half of 2010, Elgin saw a 55 percent increase in foreclosure filings, compared to the first half of 2009. Kane County had a 59 percent increase in foreclosure filings during the same time, according to the Woodstock Institute.
From Jan. 1 to April 19, 2010, the city of Elgin recorded more than 1,000 total foreclosures (including new filings, REO auctions and properties that became bank-owned).
The event is intended to help homeowners at risk of foreclosure determine if they may be eligible for help under the federal government's foreclosure assistance plan.
If so, they will receive assistance completing and submitting their online loan modification applications to their lenders.
Homeowners may be eligible if they:
• Are behind on their mortgage or are at risk of foreclosure.
• Are owner-occupants of a one- to four-unit property.
• Have a loan that was originated before January 1, 2009.
• Have income that will support monthly mortgage payments (even if it's reduced).
• Have a mortgage payment that exceeds 31 percent of their gross income.
The Chicago Community Trust and the Illinois Housing Development Authority, in partnership with Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago and Attorneys' Title Guaranty Fund Inc.
Additional participating organizations and municipalities include the Regional Home Ownership Preservation Initiative, Spanish Coalition for Housing, Joseph Corporation, the City of Elgin and Kane County.
For more information, call NHS of Chicago at (773) 329-4185 to speak in English or (773) 329-4181 to speak in Spanish; or visit ATG at atgf.com or NHS at nhschicago.org.