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Program To Bail Out Borrowers Helps Few

State Says Only 22 Homeowners Qualify

POSTED: 6:21 pm EDT July 9, 2008
UPDATED: 7:49 pm EDT July 9, 2008

Foreclosures in the Bay State have soared 66 percent in the past year. The state has several initiatives to help, including a $250 million program to help refinance sub prime loans. But Team 5 Investigates found the fund has helped only a few Bay State homeowners.

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Antonia Molina, of Roxbury, said he's proud of the home he's owned for 20 years. But the work he put into upgrades meant refinancing a few years ago. That's when his mortgage started to balloon.

"The rates started going up 6, 8, 10 and 11 percent," said Molina.

Foreclosure now looms. Molina's payment jumped from $2,600 to $5,100.

"I have a family. Where do I go?" said Molina.

One state program called Homesaver is supposed to help homeowners by getting them into lower fixed rate loans. But Team 5 has learned it has been far from successful.

From last September to May of this year, more than 7,500 homeowners completed counseling. But only 22 received refinancing through the Homesaver program.

Bruce Marks, CEO of the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, said the state program was doomed to fail.

"It's structured to fail. It will not happen," Marks said.

Marks said most sub prime borrowers could never qualify for a new, lower-interest loan. He said the real solution is to find lenders who are willing to rework the loans borrowers already have.

"We're saying accept this reduced interest rate, accept this mortgage amount, because we've documented what the homeowner can afford," Marks said.

In a statement to Team 5, MassHousing said, " Lenders are more willing to go through foreclosure" than take a loss. The agency added, "The scale of the foreclosure crisis has far exceeded any forecast," and that many homeowners don't qualify for even the most generous refinancing deal. They said in some cases, the best solution is to give up ownership.

But Antonio Molina said he will not let go just yet.

"I'm too old to start over again," said Molina. "I think it would be a disaster."

Molina will head to Washington, D.C., later this month to try to save his home. The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America will be there for five days to counsel thousands of homeowners, and publicly pressure lenders to approve more affordable mortgages.

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