In Support of Counseling…

by | Dec, 29, 2011 | Default

Yes. We admit it.

The MortgageKeeper team has had a long love affair with foreclosure counseling. Some our best clients are counseling agencies. And some of us have even been counselors ourselves.

Unbiased on this subject, we are not.

So don’t be surprised that we are issuing a loud “amen” to a recent article from DSNews. It highlights a NeighborWorks America study saying that counseling lowers redefault rates–that folks counseled through the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program are more than 67% more likely to be current on their loans 9 months after loan modification.

Now, the usual argument against counseling is that it is a costly way to save struggling homeowners. But if a homeowner gets out of default quickly and remains on track afterwards…isn’t it worth the costs involved?

The combination of a personal touch + access to local resources is a one-two punch that helps to develop a sustainable household budget for struggling homeowners–the first step to staying in a home and staying current on a loan.

This seems to be worth supporting.

The Secret Sauce

by | Dec, 4, 2011 | Default

How many of you out there have purchased a new “widget,” only to find out two months (or two weeks…or two days) later, that your technology is no longer the latest and greatest thing on the planet?

Now imagine that you have 6,000 widgets. And your job is to keep all of them updated at all times. Sound like a job for a super hero?

Welcome to MortgageKeeper…with a database of 6,000 resources around the country and around the corner for struggling homeowners. We are only as good as our data. And our “secret sauce” is our data team, who keeps our current data up to date.

So what qualifies someone to research 6,000 community-based, nationally-based, or government agencies to determine if they are best in class? All members of our team have:

* a college education
* worked extensively for nonprofit organizations.
* experience with community organizing and education. (Yes, just like the President…)

Nearly all are published writers. Some have graduate school experience. Others work for top national universities. A few are fully bilingual (they make our MKEspanol–our database, translated into Spanish–a reality). One holds a U.S. patent. Another served in the Peace Corps. They live all over the United States. And they have a tenacious gift for finding and tracking down agencies that can make a huge difference to those who need financial or personal help.

But, sadly, they can’t leap tall buildings or fly invisible jets. At least, they don’t mention this in their resumes…

Got a question about how we keep our data up to date? Post it here…