Press Releases

New Ford Foundation Grant Supports Effort to Reduce Mortgage Foreclosures Nationwide

$2 Million to Expand Successful Initiative of Atlanta Credit Counseling Agency

NEW YORK, 12 June 2008—New technology that allows credit counselors to significantly speed up loan modifications and other solutions for homeowners caught in the nation’s mortgage crisis has spurred a $2 million investment from the Ford Foundation.

The grant will support the Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) of Greater Atlanta, which has piloted a new software platform that lets credit counselors eliminate lengthy delays faced by homeowners in urgent need of modified mortgages.

The foundation’s grant to CCCS is the first in series of major investments to address the impact of the foreclosure crisis on homeowners and communities. Ford officials expect to provide some $8 million in grants through the summer to strengthen community efforts to address the crisis.

The grant to CCCS will allow it to increase its counseling staff by 80 employees and open an additional counseling facility in metro Atlanta. When fully trained, a counselor can use the new software to conduct about 1,000 counseling sessions a year, so the grant means that approximately 80,000 additional delinquent homeowners looking to avoid foreclosure can receive help annually.

"Keeping American homeowners in their homes is an urgent priority for us," said Frank DeGiovanni, director of economic development at the Ford Foundation. "Preventing foreclosure is beneficial to borrowers and lenders alike, yet confusion, delay and distrust on both sides have often stood in the way of sensible loan modifications. This new system is finally breaking down those barriers."

Through early field testing of the new software platform, CCCS has already enlisted the participation of two national lenders—Wells Fargo and Bank of America. It hopes to attract additional lenders in the coming months.

The software supplies credit counselors with the criteria used by these lenders to determine whether mortgages can be modified. Guided by this information, when credit counselors are meeting with individual homeowners, they can immediately assess the borrower’s eligibility for a workout solution, such as a loan modification. The proposed solution is then sent to the lender for their review. This potentially eliminates months of back-and-forth between the borrower and lender that have often delayed modifications or led to foreclosure.

CCCS of Greater Atlanta is committed to expanding the new software platform to additional nonprofit counseling agencies that staff the Homeownership Preservation Foundation’s HOPE hotline. This is a national toll-free telephone number that connects homeowners in need with counselors from nonprofit agencies.

"The Ford Foundation's grant will help us expand the reach of this new work, ensuring that more borrowers have access to high-quality credit counseling services," said Suzanne Boas, president of CCCS of Greater Atlanta, one of the highest performing nonprofit credit counseling facilities in the country. "Preserving homeownership is one of our agency's highest priorities, and this new software platform will help us save the homes of many Americans."

"The industry is committed to working collaboratively with homeowners, counseling agencies, lenders and local communities to reduce the impact of foreclosures across the country," said Ed Delgado, senior vice president at Wells Fargo. "We are constantly seeking innovative approaches—by developing technology, enhancing business-to-business relationships and improving customer contact—in an effort to keep people in their homes."

CCCS of Greater Atlanta, which provides housing counseling to homeowners across the nation, is committed to reaching many of the people hardest hit by the crisis in the housing market. This is also a priority for the Ford Foundation, whose mission is focused on creating opportunity and improving lives among the most vulnerable.

"With two to three million mortgages likely to go into default in the next two years, there is a real risk that the economic gains made by low-income and minority communities in the last decade will be rolled back," said DeGiovanni. "Solutions for these and other American families facing this crisis will depend on all of us working together."

CCCS of Greater Atlanta Contacts:
Scott Scredon, (404) 653-8833, Scott.Scredon@cccsinc.org
John McCosh, (404) 260-3108, John.McCosh@cccsinc.org

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CCCS of Greater Atlanta serves clients in all 50 states and has 18 offices in four states. It is the headquarters for the CredAbility Network, a family of agencies serving consumers in north Georgia, south Florida, middle Mississippi and east Tennessee as well as nationally via telephone and Internet. CCCS is accredited by the Council o­n Accreditation and is a member of the Better Business Bureau and the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC). Governed by a community-based board of directors, CCCS is funded by creditors, clients, contributors and grants from foundations, businesses and government agencies. Service is available at offices throughout metro-Atlanta and north Georgia in English, Spanish and American Sign Language. CCCS offers around the-clock help by phone at 1-800-251-CCCS or at its Web sites, www.cccsinc.org and cccsenespanol.org.

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The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has been a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide, guided by its goals of strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice, promoting international cooperation and advancing human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Russia.