Released: May 06, 2007

Lenders help homeowners catch up, stay put

Source: Dina ElBoghdady, Washington Post (Free Registration)

Ernestine Witherspoon managed to hang onto her house in Northeast Washington even after she lost her job and fell far behind on her mortgage payments.

Her lender, Countrywide Home Loans, was weeks away from seizing the house when Witherspoon called, explained her situation, and worked out a plan to repay the $9,800 she owed. She scraped together $3,600 - only because she landed a new job - and Countrywide then tacked $25 onto her monthly payments for the life of the loan to make up the difference.

“I was treated well,” said Witherspoon, 51, a secretary at a Maryland hospital. “But when you are in the position I was in, you have no choice but to accept the lender’s terms if you want to keep your property, and that makes you feel very, very vulnerable.”

Witherspoon benefited from the increasing willingness of lenders to help troubled borrowers stay in their homes. 

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