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How can this program help me?

You can meet face-to-face with your lender. Some homeowners have expressed frustration that they either cannot get in touch with someone to help them resolve an issue with their loan or that they have talked to numerous people, all of whom had different answers, and none of whom could be reached a second time. Lenders must have someone participate at the resolution conference with the authority to negotiate and commit to all foreclosure avoidance measures.

Your lender must provide important information about your loan. If you pay the required fee and submit information required by the rules, then your lender must provide you with a copy of your note and trust deed, a payment history, an itemized statement of fees and charges you owe, and other important information about your loan. See ORS 86.729(4).

Your lender cannot foreclose until the process is complete. If you choose to participate in the program, the lender must follow the program rules to receive a certificate of compliance. Until the process concludes, your lender may not commence foreclosure. If you decide not to participate, your lender will receive a certificate of compliance about 30 days after the initial notice. Not all lenders are required to participate. Visit the Department of Justice website for a current list of exempt lenders.

Get help from a state-approved housing counselor. You must meet with a state-approved housing counseling agency before the resolution conference. The housing counselor will answer questions, help you evaluate your options, submit required documents, and can even represent you at the resolution conference - all at no cost to you.

Here's what some fellow homeowners have to say about the Oregon Foreclosure Avoidance Program:

I had started working with my lender, a big company, but I wasn't sure how to navigate such a complex system. The Foreclosure Avoidance Program helped walk my husband and I through the process.
Read Angkana's story

The program gives you a good way to communicate with the bank without being overwhelmed, and you have a third party mediator who is interested in helping both sides come to an agreement that works for everyone.
Read Mike's story

With my new loan modification, my mortgage is now similar to what I would probably be paying for rent. I can see that money as an investment rather than an expense.
Read Stacey's Story

Angkana Kong, Aloha

Angkana Kong makes it clear that she's a self-initiator and usually likes to problem solve on her own. But when it came to negotiating on her home, the Aloha resident says she realized she needed more support.

"I had started working with my lender, a big company, but I wasn't sure how to navigate such a complex system. I talked with my husband and we felt that the Foreclosure Avoidance Program would help walk us through the process."

Angkana says the program helped her find a productive way to work with her lender. "It wasn't that hard to participate," she says. "You just need to follow the steps and submit the required documents on time." Counseling support, according to Angkana, was critical to her success. "I became somewhat of a regular at Open Door [Counseling Center in Hillsboro] — now they recognize me every time I walk in the door!"

As Angkana and her housing counselor Jessica Galindo prepared for the resolution conference, they uploaded documents that helped demonstrate the Kong's current financial progress, including letting the lender know that they had recently paid off a car they owned and that Angkana's job was moving from temporary to permanent status.

At the conference, Kong recalls, "the facilitator was very detailed and made sure the discussion ran smoothly. My counselor helped advocate for a reconvene [second meeting] where our lender would verify that the temporary loan modification would go through."

The bank granted the Kongs a trial modification for three months. After three on-time monthly payments, the Kongs will be looking at a 40-year extension with an interest rate nearly one-third lower than what they had been paying.

"Now that my husband and I both have full time jobs and we've lowered our monthly house payments, we are going to work with Open Door to try and adjust a second loan we have on the house," says Kong. "I feel really optimistic ... like things are on the right track."

Mike Blackburn, Portland

Mike Blackburn of Portland decided to participate in the Oregon Foreclosure Avoidance Program because he liked the idea of meeting with his bank in a face-to-face mediated setting to come up with terms to avoid foreclosure on his home.

"We were determined to keep our home and stay in our neighborhood. We have great neighbors -- they are like family," says Mike.

The opportunity to work with his lender in a supported process seemed easier than doing it on his own, Mike explains. "I had been trying get a loan modification, but the paperwork was complicated, and it was really overwhelming."

Mike says that Kevin Sheehan, a housing counselor at Hacienda CDC who worked with Mike and his wife Jeannette throughout the process, helped him understand the foreclosure avoidance options for which he might be eligible, and reassured him that he had a chance to save his home.

"I had a million questions. Was I going to lose my house one-hundred percent? Did I have a reason to be hopeful? Kevin explained how options like a loan modification and short sale worked. He helped translate some of the jargon into terms I could understand. He had worked with my bank before, and he assured me that there was a good chance they would work with me in exploring these options.

Kevin helped Mike and Jeannette prepare for the conference, in collecting the required documents and uploading them to the secure online portal for the lender to review. "My wife and I work full time, and the portal allowed me to scan and submit the required documents on my own time, outside of business hours."

At the conference itself, Mike said he was nervous and had a hard time articulating what was most important to him. "Kevin was our advocate," Mike explains. "He stepped in at the right time and clarified what we were trying to ask."

"It was a productive conversation with our lender, but we couldn't reach a solid agreement in the meeting. The lender indicated that they would give us a loan modification, but they couldn't tell us the terms until we provided them some additional documentation. Ultimately, we were able to lower our mortgage payments by $300 per month. It started out as a 90-day temporary modification and now we have a permanent modification."

Mike says he's referred several friends to the program since he participated. "Whether or not it's successful for you depends on your situation, but the program works really well," he says. "It gives you a good way to communicate with the bank without being overwhelmed, and you have a third party mediator who is interested in helping both sides come to an agreement that works for everyone."

Stacey Soderberg, Portland

"I was living alone and the upkeep of my home was just getting to be too much. Then my son announced that I had a grandson on the way, and I knew I needed to have him and his family come live with me so that I could help provide consistent care for the baby."

When Stacey Soderberg received the Notice of Resolution Conference, describing her window of opportunity to participate in a face-to-face meeting with her lender, she says she realized she was ready to do what it would take to keep her home.

"I felt that if my lender was initiating this process, the chances were good that they didn't want to take the house," she says. "Knowing there would be someone in the middle [a mediator] to be able to guide the process and make suggestions if we couldn't come to an agreement was appealing to me."

Because both parties had exchanged and reviewed documents prior to the resolution conference, Stacey's lender was aware that she had recently been laid off from her job and was looking for work. She says her lender came to the conference with a proposal that she participate in a program for unemployed Oregonians, where monthly payments are limited to 33 percent of a homeowner's income.

"This lowered my monthly payment by $200. Now, when I find a job, I can apply for a modification ... and if I qualify for the modification, I can keep the house."

On her participation in the program, Stacey says she felt she had nothing to lose by giving it a try. "My mortgage is now similar to what I would probably be paying for rent -- so now I can see that money as an investment rather than an expense."