$50 billion foreclosure prevention program
President Obama is expected to unveil a $50 billion foreclosure prevention program tomorrow and new standards for modifying home loans. Frank Komornik just hopes it comes in time.
He is caught in what one non-profit called an “epidemic” of bad mortgage modification offers.
With two jobs and $6,000 in credit card debt, Komornik admits he probably should not have bought the house in East Meadow, Long Island. But the price was good and the broker offered a $10,000 signing bonus.
The bonus never arrived. Then he lost his night job. The mortgage was scheduled to reach $6,000, so when a mortgage broker offered to modify his loan for a $900 upfront fee, Komornik jumped at the chance.
The deal fell through. The broker said sorry and told him to try ACORN, a nonprofit housing group. The $400 refund check he was sent bounced, and now he can’t reach the broker, he said.
“I’m trying to work this out before it explodes in my face,” he said.
Similar horror stories have flooded South Brooklyn Legal Services and other nonprofits that offer free help to homeowners, said SBLS attorney Rebekah Cook-Mack.
“It’s an epidemic,” she said.
