Gov. Easley Touts Foreclosure Program

Article Date: Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Written By: Russell Rawlings

Gov. Mike Easley

Gov. Mike Easley, speaking last week at a meeting of the National Attorneys General Association in Florida, touted the N.C. Home Foreclosure Prevention Program as a national model.

 

The project, implemented through the Office of the N.C. Commissioner of Banks, includes significant involvement from the North Carolina Bar Association’s Real Property Section, the NCBA Foundation’s Pro Bono Project and Legal Aid of North Carolina.

 

“The National Governors Association,” Easley stated in a release issued by his office, “is recommending national legislation based on North Carolina’s program.”

 

“Attorneys general,” Easley continued, “play a critical role in preventing foreclosures and keeping families in their homes. In addition to their basic responsibilities to protect consumers, attorneys general involvement is needed to resolve complex legal issues

 

“Since most mortgage investment packages today have been sold as securities and are owned by several parties, anyone of these parties can file legal actions to prevent the loan modifications that help families avoid foreclosure. The attorneys general can ensure the public has the legal representation it needs.”

 

N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper is also a staunch advocate of the effort.

 

“Families and communities across our state are suffering because of foreclosures,” Cooper stated in the release. “Attorneys general want to be at the forefront on this issue that’s so important to protecting consumers and fixing our economy.

 

Attorney General Roy Cooper

“We’re offering help to North Carolina homeowners, such as our hotline which connects people with free foreclosure assistance, going after scammers who try to take advantage of people facing foreclosure, and getting lenders to work out solutions so people can keep their homes.”

 

A prominent component of the North Carolina effort is a similarly titled continuing legal education training program, N.C. Foreclosure Prevention Project, presented by the NCBA Foundation’s CLE Department. The initial presentation of this live program at the N.C. Bar Center attracted more than 225 lawyers and paralegals.

 

Additional live programs scheduled this week in Wilmington (Wednesday, Dec. 10) and Charlotte (Friday, Dec. 12) are also attracting impressive turnouts, as will subsequent video replays. The program provides six hours of CLE/CPE credit at no cost to participants who agree to handle a minimum of two Red Flag Reviews.

 

According the Michelle Cofield, director of public service and pro bono activities for the NCBA Foundation, the CLE program was designed to incorporate three aspects of volunteering: Red Flag Reviews, negotiation of loan modifications, and foreclosure representation.

 

Volunteers, she added, are essential to the success of the program because the N.C. Commissioner of Banks simply cannot handle the onslaught of foreclosure-related matters.

 

In just one month since the inception of the Foreclosure Prevention Project, the Office of the Governor reported, some 1,000 homeowners has asked the NCCOB for assistance. And subprime lenders, who are now required to provide 45 days written notice before filing foreclosure proceedings, have filed more than 7,000 subprime pre-foreclosure notices.

 

In other words, there’s plenty of work to go around for volunteer attorneys, paralegals and law students who are interested in helping North Carolina homeowners keep their homes.