Consumers Give Merit to Use of Housing Counseling Company to Prevent Foreclosure

With a 70% failure rate, bankruptcy may not be the best option to prevent foreclosure. Five homeowners from South Carolina come forward to tell others how a certified housing counseling company negotiated with lenders to stop foreclosure against their homes.

What can a borrower do to prevent foreclosure sale of the home if they have failed at a bankruptcy plan or do not have all of the monies requested by the creditor?

This release provides testimony from five courageous homeowners who were able to successfully prevent foreclosure sale of their homes through housing counseling services provided by Save Your Home, Inc.

Dianna Rumph’s home was scheduled for sale on June 6, 2005 after she fell over a year behind because of severe health problems. My mortgage company did not want to accept my down payment and Save Your Home had to contact the HUD office in Oklahoma to get the lender to review my file under HUD guidelines, said Rumph, of Orangeburg, SC. “My family would be out on the street today if it weren’t for Save Your Home and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

Save Your Home is a national foreclosure prevention company that was founded by Herbert Addison, JD, CHC and Michael Taylor, Sr. Mr. Addison is a certified housing counselor and a member of the Virginia Association of Housing Counselors. Professional housing counseling involves developing spending and savings plans and skillfully negotiating with lenders. They are also co-authors of How to Save Your Home, ISBN# 09753754-0-7, .95, SYH University, LLC, 2005, which is on sale at Amazon.com and has received an Excellent rating from bookreview.com.

We are the only foreclosure prevention company in the nation that has published a do-it-yourself-guide for the homeowner. It is not about the money, it is about the mission, Taylor said. Our mission is to provide financial literacy education to consumers regarding wealth creation and homeownership retention.”

One reason for their passion is because of past personal financial experiences that parallel their clientsÂ’. Mr. Addison agreed to disbarment following 3 years of litigation with the SC Bar. He would be eligible to rejoin the SC bar in 2007. In 2002, Mr. Taylor agreed to a two-year suspension from the SC Real Estate Commission which is now complete.

I almost lost everything in 2002 and share my story of hardship in our book, said Addison. We truly understand the emotional and psychological distress that the homeowner is experiencing because we have also been in foreclosure and have a passion for helping them to succeed. said Taylor.

William Free, III of Orangeburg, SC lost his home to a foreclosure sale in November of 2004. My attorney recommended me to Save Your Home and they worked with the lender to set aside the foreclosure sale and to take less money than what was owed so that I could get a family member to repurchase the home said Free.

When asked about 7 complaints against their company filed with the SC Department of Consumer affairs, Mr. Taylor responded that they had provided service to 1543 consumers in the Midlands and over 3,000 nationally.  Seven is less than one-half of 1% of the clients served by our company in this area. For those consumers who are willing to dedicate themselves to a spending and savings plan, the success rate is around 90%. “Although our dedication is to excellence, it is imposible to satisfy everyone” Taylor added.

Joe Caton of Service Management, a leading magazine focusing on default management verifies that Taylor and Addison are top experts in the field of loss mitigation. Mike and Tony were key note speakers for ABN-AMRO last year to discuss bankruptcy and default issues, Caton said.

Mr. Lewis Whitener of Columbia, SC has also come forward to tell his story. “They got the job done for me” said Whitener who received a loan modification from Midland Mortgage in June 2005 to stop foreclosure action against his home.

Walter McCloed of Kingstree, SC agrees. He was over ,000 behind on a loan with Select Portfolio Services and had a sale date scheduled on June 6, 2005. The sale was stopped and all I had to come up with was a ,500 down payment to get a repayment plan. McCloed said. Mr. Addison and Mr. Taylor were very encouraging, professional and walked me through the entire process.

Save Your Home’s housing counseling program also worked for Awni Abuaita of Columbia, SC. “I used the service to save my credit with a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure when my payment became too high,” said Abuaita.

While some may believe that foreclosure cannot be stopped with proper housing counseling, five consumers have come forward to categorically prove otherwise. Moreover, mortgage lenders have long known that loss mitigation saves homes and recognize Taylor and Addison as rising stars within this area.

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Posted On: Columbia, SC June 18, 2005