Loan Modification- Foreclosure Prevention Looking Brighter

There's no guarantee that Joe of Ripon will be able to save his home of 21 years. But at least he walked away from Friday's Foreclosure Prevention Workshop at the Manteca Senior Center with some optimism.

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"It's like having this tremendous load taken off my shoulders," said Joe, who opted to withhold his last name for confidentiality reasons.

He met with Countrywide, one of six banks on hand with representatives authorized to make loan modifications if provided with all of the appropriate information from the borrower. The others were Indy Mac, Chase, Wells Fargo, Washington Mutual and Bank of America.

Ana Rocha, for one, a Manteca Redevelopment Agency representative, was surprised to see Bank of America show up.

"But it was a very welcome surprise," she said.

Joe, meanwhile, found out about the event via the Manteca Bulletin. For some time, he's been burning up the phone line just trying to talk to a bank representative in an effort to save his home, getting no luck at all.

"It was like trying to get to first base without a bat in your hand," Joe said.

His representative thoroughly explained the options, and Joe came away feeling positive after finally talking to a person, face to face, about his situation.

The event was part of the grassroots effort by No Homeowner Left Behind. Over 200 people were expected to speak with bank representatives or housing counseling organizations that work directly with bank foreclosure departments.

The non-profit organization, in the past year, had conducted nine similar sessions throughout northern San Joaquin Valley, helping hundreds of families save their homes.

Some folks received word of the Manteca workshop by none other than the Federal Reserve, which sent notices back on June 1 to those who got foreclosure notices in San Joaquin County.

Included was Geremias Romero, who took time off from his job at a furniture store to try to save his Los Banos home of three years.

He brought along the necessary paper work, consisting of his loan information and documents, pay stubs from the past month, and current mortgage payment, with hopes of getting a loan modification in order to reduce his losses upfront.

"I'll have to wait two weeks to get an answer," said Romero, who was among those not in a position to be helped that day based on the bank's determination.

In addition, those attending had a chance to meet with a HUD-certified counseling services about free advice about resolving their mortgage problem.