A state agency and a private alliance of lenders, Realtors and other sponsors has raised almost $450,000 to improve counseling services to Colorado homeowners facing foreclosure.
At a news conference Friday, Gov. Bill Ritter expressed his concern about Colorado’s high foreclosure rate and commended the partnership created to promote a state foreclosure hotline.
“We’ve read the headlines. We’ve seen the facts that are out there regarding Colorado’s foreclosure rate,” he said.
Ritter said he believes Colorado can achieve “a significant reduction” in foreclosures “and the devastation that can happen to a family or an individual as a result.”
About 8,400 people have called a toll-free state foreclosure hotline, 877-601-HOPE, since it was established in October. The partnership that set it up has begun airing public service announcements to promote the hotline and the availability of housing counselors.
The state Division of Housing put up $250,000 to help promote the hotline and offer counselors to assist those who call. Other sponsors include Colorado’s mortgage lender and Realtor associations, JP Morgan Chase, U.S. Bank and Castle Meinhold & Stawiarski, the law firm that dominates Colorado’s foreclosure business.
Kathi Williams, housing division director, said the money will be used partly to pay for more counselors in areas hard hit by foreclosures, particularly Adams, Denver, Arapahoe and Weld counties.
Of those who have called the hotline and then met a housing counselor, only 7 percent have a completed foreclosure on their record, Williams said.
But in some areas, “it takes two weeks to get an appointment. We think that’s too long,” she said.
John Carson, regional director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said people in mortgage trouble are welcome to seek counselors through his agency, whether or not their loans are federally insured. Housing counselors can negotiate with lenders, as well as offer financial advice to homeowners and help identify predatory loans.
Ritter did not propose legislative measures to combat Colorado’s foreclosure rate. But “the question on the table is licensing” of mortgage brokers, he said. “It merits a conversation.”
Colorado has required mortgage brokers to register since Jan. 1, but has not imposed licensing standards.
Staff writer David Olinger can be reached at 303-954-1498 or dolinger@denverpost.com.
