Divorce Money Matters

I wrote this email today to a reporter at the NY Times regarding his story that came out today and my experiences with my clients in regards to the govt. assistance programs mentioned in it.  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/15/business/15housing.html?th&emc=th  My email to him below.

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Mr. Streitfeld,

I am writing regarding your article today, U.S. Housing Aid Winds Down, and Cities Worry.  I saw that you made reference to the home owner assistance programs through the government.  I wanted to share with you my experience in dealing with these agencies and lenders.

I am a CDFA (Certified Divorce Financial Analyst) and I have been trying to help several clients navigate the murky waters of divorce in a down real estate market.  

When the government announced the home owner assistance programs I was very excited to be able to offer a ray of hope for those buried under the debt of fallen housing values.  What I have found instead is a front and a farce with these programs.

Because the lenders can choose whether or not to participate these measures have no teeth.  I have yet to find one lender who is willing to participate and in my conversations with other professionals that deal with the same matters we are all finding the same thing - little to no participation from the lenders or servicers of the loans.

In essence, it appears that the homeowners have been offered hope, but really there is nothing behind the curtain when it is pulled back. The HUD counselors have no authority to make anything happen either.

I have called my Senators offices, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss (Ga.) and emailed the White House several times about this to no avail.  Not one of them has returned my phone calls or emails.

No one in the media is talking about this as I don’t believe many are aware.  I am trying to get the conversation going because I truly believe that the institutions that were bailed out when they needed help are now stalling in the hopes that the programs will simply run out of time before anyone realizes what is going on.

Please do a follow-up story on this as families are losing their homes while the stalling game is played.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Lisa C. Decker, CDFA
www.DivorceMoneyMatters.com

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I would love to hear your experiences with any of the government sponsored home owner assistance programs - HAMP,  HARP, H4H and their newest HAFA.  Please leave some comments below.  And be sure to contact your Congressmen, Senators and the White House to keep the pressure on to help the taxpayers who bailed out the big banks when they needed it!