Lake County program helps 39 homeowners keep homes
About 25 percent of the Lake County homeowners who participated in the first year of a new foreclosure mediation program renegotiated loans and kept their homes, officials announced.
The Lake County circuit court effort employs neutral mediators to oversee communications between homeowners facing foreclosure and banks.
Modifications - such as lower interest rates or extended payoff periods - are considered in some cases. In others, foreclosures are necessary because of the homeowner's inability to repay the debt.
The program started in December 2013. Of the 155 homeowners who participated the first year, 39 got modified loans and kept their homes, said Eric Slepak, a resource center director with the Resolution Systems Institute, a Chicago nonprofit group that's partnering with the courts on the program.
Slepak said his firm is "very pleased" with that rate.
"Had they elected to resolve these cases in court, it is very likely they would have lost their homes," he said.
Lake County Chief Judge John Phillips called the program "a godsend for people who are in foreclosure."
The free mediation program is designed to make the foreclosure process easier to navigate and to assist communications between homeowners and banks. Neutral mediators who don't represent either party oversee discussions. Resolution Systems Institute trains the mediators.
The mediators don't decide foreclosure cases. Rather, they help both sides come to terms.
"The courts cannot help one side prevail, but the judges are very interested in their courts being fair to everyone," Slepak said.
Loan modification isn't offered to every participant. A judge can't order a bank to offer a modified loan, either, Slepak said.
If mediation ends without an agreement, the foreclosure process continues in court.
But the program offers more than mediation. Homeowners must also attend an informational session offered by the Affordable Housing Corporation of Lake County, a nonprofit agency.
One-on-one financial counseling is part of the process, too. Phillips thinks that is particularly valuable.
"This gives them the opportunity to get information (so) they can make good choices," he said.
It also lets people know they're not alone, Phillips said.
The program is funded by a grant from the Illinois attorney general's office and case filing fees. Information on the program is included with all foreclosure summonses.
For more, call (847) 377-3552 or send an email to program coordinator Olga Kordonskaya at okordonskaya@aboutrsi.org.