News from Save the Dream Ohio

Save the Dream Ohio has launched this monthly newsletter to keep our partners up to date on the latest news about foreclosure prevention in Ohio. This newsletter will include important information about state and national foreclosure news.

If you have an item to add to next month's newsletter, would like to ask a question, or would like to offer feedback, email Stephanie Casey Pierce.

SDO to Launch Online Application

Online application includes portal for counselors, servicers

As the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) and Save the Dream Ohio gear up for the launch of the Ohio Hardest-Hit Fund program (Ohio HHF), the SDO initiative is making plans to launch a new online application for homeowners.

The online application will be accessible through a web portal. Housing counseling agencies and mortgage servicers will be able to view and process applications submitted through the portal, which is hosted by Counselor Direct. Counselors, homeowners, and servicers will be able to track documents and the status of loss mitigation efforts through the online application portal.

Housing counselors at agencies that participate in Ohio HHF will be trained on using the online application system this summer and early fall. OHFA and Save the Dream Ohio hope the online application will make housing counseling services more accessible to homeowners, while adding transparency to the loan modification process.

To learn more about the Ohio HHF plan, visit the Ohio Housing Finance Agency's Ohio HHF webpage.

Resources for Homeowners to be Featured at Ohio State Fair

SDO partners will distribute information at Commerce, Job & Family Services booths

The Ohio State Fair, which runs July 28 - August 8 at the Ohio Expo Center, has information and resources available for homeowners seeking help with their mortgages.

Fairgoers who visit the Ohio Departments of Commerce or Job & Family Services booths will be able to take home Save the Dream Ohio resources and information. The Save the Dream Ohio materials include Mortgage Help Workbooks, postcards, and flyers. Those materials list the Save the Dream Ohio hotline, 888-404-4674, the Save the Dream Ohio website, www.savethedream.ohio.gov, and information about what homeowners should expect when calling the hotline or working with a HUD-approved housing counseling agency or legal aid attorney.

Other Save the Dream Ohio partners will be participating in the Ohio State Fair and will have information on the unique resources offered by their agencies. Those partners include: Ohio Attorney General's Office, Ohio Treasurer of State, Ohio Department of Development and the Ohio Housing Finance Agency.

Smart Money Choices Series Underway

Treasurer of State offers financial management courses to Ohioans

The office of Ohio Treasurer of State Kevin L. Boyce has been offering its Smart Money Choices courses to Ohioans throughout the summer. The Smart Money Choices conference series, which teaches money management skills, already has visited Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Youngstown, Lima, and Akron.

The Smart Money Conference series offers information on key topics to emplower Ohioans to make smart financial choices. Topics include:

Investments;
Social Security;
Insurance;
Budgeting;
Retirement planning;
Consumer protection; and
Credit and debt.

The conference also offers a special workshop for children, called "Kids and Money," which teaches children how to make smart decisions with their money, how to understand the consequences of their decisions, and how to prioritize spending and saving.

Ohioans may register online for one of the two following conferences that is left in the summer conference series:

August 6

Columbus

Concourse Hotel and Conference Center

4300 International Gateway

September 17

Spotlight on Success

Tiffany Gemmell
The Home Ownership Center of Greater Cincinnati (HOC)

Tiffany Gemmell worked with several lending institutions and a foreclosure law firm before shifting the focus of her career from Resolution Specialist to a HUD-Certified Counselor. She has been teaching the basic knowledge of foreclosure and loss mitigation alternatives at The Home Ownership Center of Greater Cincinnati for the past twelve months. Since leaving the lending institutions and law firm, Tiffany Gemmell has devoted herself to educating and counseling the community to prevent foreclosures. Her career with The Home Ownership Center of Greater Cincinnati began in 2009. She describes the experience as being very "self-rewarding."

Life challenges drove a couple to seek Ms. Gemmell's expertise recently, after illnesses caused the couple to fall behind on their mortgage. Both members of this family were ill--one with cancer and the other with serious heart problems--but they fought through their illnesses together. As medical bills and regular hospital stays took a toll on their financial situation, the couple expressed their devotion to one thing: their home. One of the family members was able to return to work, so the couple persevered through the complicated and sometimes unfair process of foreclosure prevention.

Their lender gave the couple a forbearance agreement that was shortly broken, because the couple's fixed income made it very difficult for them to make the required payment on the first day of the month, which was the payment date set by the lender. Next, the lender offered the couple a trial payment plan. The couple made three months of on-time, trial payments as instructed, but the lender denied their permanent modification. After months of negotiations with the lender, Ms. Gemmell sought the assistance of HUD and the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati. Together, they were able to obtain a responsible loan modification for the couple--1 year, 3 months, and 14 days after the couple first asked for help.

The lender expressed that it was in the wrong, and gave the couple a 3 percent interest rate for thirty years. The lender also forgave the couple's past due debt. "Outcomes like this are why the job is so rewarding" said Ms. Gremmell. "The comfort and stability of their homeownership will support the couple's ability to manage their other issues." Currently, the family member with cancer is in remission and the heart issues are being managed.

The Home Ownership Center of Greater Cincinnati (HOC) has been serving the needs of greater Cincinnati communities for over 35 years. HOC is a member of the NeighborWorks® network with over 230 other non-profit organizations throughout the country. A certified Home Ownership Center from NeighborWorks® America, HOC has two primary business lines: Home Ownership Creation and Home Ownership Retention. HOC offers home purchase education and counseling, foreclosure prevention counseling, and administers home improvement lending programs.

About Save the Dream Ohio

Save the Dream Ohio is a multi-agency foreclosure prevention effort launched by Ohio Governor Ted Strickland in March 2008. Save the Dream Ohio connects Ohio homeowners with HUD-approved housing counselors and legal assistance through a free hotline, 888-404-4674, and an information-rich website, www.savethedream.ohio.gov.

Partners include:

Ohio Governor's Office; Ohio Attorney General's Office; Ohio Treasurer of State; Supreme Court of Ohio; Ohio Department of Commerce; Ohio Department of Development; Ohio Department of Job and Family Services; Ohio Housing Finance Agency; Ohio State Bar Association; Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation; Ohio Poverty Law Center; Housing Counseling Agencies; and Legal Aid Organizations.