Press Contact Only:
Margaret Matrone, NCHFA, 919-877-5606,
Connie Helmlinger, NCHFA, 919-877-5607,
Unemployed workers and others facing temporary financial hardships in our area have a new avenue to seek mortgage help while they get back on their feet.
White Oak Foundation of Apex has joined 39 counseling organizations statewide in offering the NC Foreclosure Prevention Fund,™ a mortgage assistance program offered through the NC Housing Finance Agency. White Oak Foundation serves Chatham, Durham, and Wake counties.
The NC Foreclosure Prevention Fund™ makes mortgage payments for unemployed workers while they seek jobs or complete job training in a new field. Others who are at risk of falling behind on their payments because of divorce, serious illness or certain other temporary setbacks, may also be eligible for assistance while they look for work.
The Fund also offers loans to pay off second mortgages for homeowners who are employed but who, through no fault of their own, are unable to make their monthly mortgage payments because of a prior job loss or reduced income.
“More than 1,200 homeowners have already been approved for mortgage payment assistance under the Fund,” said A. Robert Kucab, executive director of the NC Housing Finance Agency, the self-supporting state agency that designed and manages the effort. “The goal is to help responsible North Carolina homeowners keep their homes and to support the state’s economic recovery by protecting property values and the local tax base.”
The mortgage payment assistance is a zero-interest, deferred loan of up to $24,000 or 24 months of mortgage-related payments. (In high unemployment counties, the maximum assistance is $36,000 or 36 months.) Homeowners must have a good mortgage payment history prior to the job loss or hardship and demonstrate an ability to resume their mortgage payments once the assistance ends. If the owner continues to live in the home for 10 years, the loan will be considered satisfied and no repayment will be due.
The second mortgage assistance is a zero-interest, deferred payment loan of up to $30,000 plus all related fees to pay off an existing second mortgage. This reduces the homeowner’s total monthly payments to a level they can afford. Borrowers must have a good mortgage payment history for six months prior to the hardship. The loan does not need to be paid back until the homeowner sells or refinances the home.
The NC Foreclosure Prevention Fund™ uses funding from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund™, which was authorized under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. It is available in 18 states and the District of Columbia, which have experienced high unemployment or a steep decline in property values. North Carolina was selected because of the large percentage of the population living in counties with high unemployment rates in 2009.
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The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency is a self-supporting public agency. It has financed 201,000 homes and apartments in the last three decades, including 82,000 homes for first-time home buyers. To learn more, go to www.nchfa.com or call 919-877-5700 or 800-393-0988.
