HOPE LoanPort and the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) has announced that they will collaborate to promote fair housing for borrowers facing foreclosure. The organizations will collaborate to preserve homeownership, particularly in under-served communities, through training and outreach focused on ending discrimination. NFHA will offer fair housing training to HOPE LoanPort's network of nearly 500 U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD)-certified counseling agencies and 15 mortgage servicers that are already committed to using the portal.
"This partnership is a natural fit as both of our organizations are dedicated to helping homeowners keep their homes and helping our neighborhoods stay strong and viable," said Shanna L. Smith, NFHA president and chief executive officer. "Fair housing organizations and housing counselors are often the first responders assisting troubled borrowers and can help provide much needed information regarding fair housing issues to borrowers as they navigate the loan modification process. The partnership will affirmatively further fair housing and particularly benefit borrowers and communities of color that have been disproportionately impacted by the foreclosure crisis."
"HOPE LoanPort™ is committed to the National Fair Housing Alliance in its effort to promote fair housing," said Larry Gilmore, president and chief executive officer of HOPE LoanPort. "We acknowledge the desperate need for fair housing education and outreach as it relates to housing and lending markets. The housing counseling professionals and loan servicers in our network will clearly benefit from the outreach, training and educational opportunities that a partnership with NFHA can offer. This, in turn, will benefit the homeowners nationwide that are seeking assistance with their mortgages."
HOPE LoanPort addresses one of the biggest hurdles to loan modification: Lost documents. Because all modification documents are uploaded into the portal, both the servicer and the housing counselor can readily ascertain whether an application has been submitted and whether all required documents have been entered into the system for the servicer to access and review. Housing counselors also receive status reports every 10 business days of the status of the application for a loan modification. These improvements allow servicers using HOPE LoanPort to reach faster decisions on loan modification applications.
For more information, visit www.hopeloanportal.org or www.nationalfairhousing.org.
