California is one of the states hardest hit by the housing crisis. I know many families within the 40th Congressional District have dealt with mortgage problems, unresponsive lenders, scam artists, and foreclosures. I have been working hard to keep families in their homes by promoting measures to allow homeowners to modify or refinance their mortgages. I have also supported efforts to ensure that financial institutions follow the law while handling delinquent mortgages, modifications, and foreclosures. I also encourage people to educate themselves about fraudulent housing counselors or services – no HUD-approved counselor will ever charge you a fee for foreclosure prevention counseling.
Resources to Help You Keep Your Home
Making Home Affordable: This website is a resource for homeowners trying to avoid mortgage problems, having trouble making mortgage payments, and facing foreclosure. (en espanol)
Hope Now: Hope Now is an alliance between counselors, mortgage companies, investors, and other mortgage market participants to maximize outreach to struggling homeowners to help them stay in their homes.
Keep Your Home California: Administered by the CalFHA Mortgage Assistance Corporation, these programs focus on assisting low and moderate income families stay in their homes. The U.S. Department of Treasury approved CalFHA’s plan to use almost $2 billion in federal funding for these programs to help California families.
Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Avoiding Foreclosure Website: A one-stop shop for resources to prevent foreclosure (en espanol)
HUD-approved Counselors
Montebello Housing Development Corporation
Los Angeles Neighborhood Housing Services
East LA Community Corporation
Fannie and Freddie: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government sponsored enterprises whose role is to stabalize the residential mortgage markets and expand access to and affordability. Both agencies offer resources to homeowners who have mortgages where Fannie or Freddie is the investor (owner) of the mortgage.
For programs and services for veterans facing mortgage programs, see this page.
For regulations and services for active duty service members, see this page.
Identifying and Reporting Mortgage Fraud or Abuse
REMEMBER: You should never be charged a fee for foreclosure prevention counseling, whether is it a consultation or a loan modification. Unfortunately there are scam artists who are trying to take advantage of those in desperate financial situations. If you are told by any organization or person that they can save your home for a fee, it is not true and they are simply trying to steal whatever money you have left. Always seek mortgage counseling through a HUD-approved agency like those listed on the websites linked above.
To learn more about loan fraud and how to report suspicious activity visit StopFraud.org.
Additional information is located at LoanScamAlert.org.
You may also report suspicious activity to the California Department of Justice. Information about the Department’s activities combating housing fraud is available on their website.
Making Sure That Your Bank is Working with You
If you believe that your bank has not appropriately responded to your requests for assistance, you can request that the regulator with jurisdiction review the bank’s actions to ensure that your bank or financial institution has followed regulations designed to protect consumers.
Most large national banks are regulated by the federal government. You can determine which federal agency has authority over your lender or loan servicer by visiting HelpWithMyBank.gov.
Smaller lenders or institutions may be regulated by the State of California. To determine which state agency has authority over your lender or loan servicer visit the California Department of Real Estate's search engine.
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