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Nonprofit Housing Counselors

I strongly suggest that you find a nonprofit housing counseling agency. The counselors there can help you assess your mortgage situation and, if possible, negotiate a solution with your lender that will keep you in your house. Lenders—which suffer economically from foreclosures and benefit if something can be worked out—are the main source of funds for these agencies. (See Ch. 4 for an in-depth discussion of finding and working with a nonprofit housing counselor.)

• The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has a list of approved counselors. You can find a HUD-approved agency at www.hud.gov/foreclosure/index.cfm or by calling 800-569-4287.
• The Homeownership Preservation Foundation website, www.995hope.org, offers free online counseling, among other things. Or you can call 888-995-HOPE and talk with someone.
• The Homeownership Crisis Resource Center, www.housinghelpnow.org, will link you up with a local nonprofit foreclosure prevention specialist who may or may not be HUD approved.
• The National Foundation for Credit Counseling will get you to a nonprofit counselor (typically HUD approved) through its toll-free hotline, 866-557-2227.