NBA STAR ON FORECLOSURES

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – June 26, 2008 – Frances Rodriguez, 66, who lost around $2,000 in a scam to renegotiate her mortgage, says she wishes she had known there was free help around to get her through the housing meltdown.

“You just grab for every straw, and I never knew there was something that was free,” said Rodriguez, who lives in Hollywood.

To make sure others don’t end up in Rodriguez’s shoes and to raise awareness of free foreclosure assistance, Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade and retired Heat luminary Alonzo Mourning put their celebrity to work Thursday, joining nonprofit and government organizations on a bus tour to raise awareness of free foreclosure assistance.

“It hurts my heart. I know it hurts everyone’s heart in here,” said Wade about the plight of homeowners facing the loss of their homes. “I’m here to help bring awareness to this and to let everyone know that there is an opportunity for them, and that there is hope.”

The bus tour highlighted the existence of nonprofits such as the HOPE NOW Alliance, sponsor of the event, that help homeowners facing foreclosure renegotiate the terms of their loans.

Rodriguez said after she was scammed she sought help from Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida, which aided her in renegotiating the mortgage payments on her home in Broward County, even though she had fallen 24 months behind.

But many of the 250,000 people that Hope Now has reached out to have refused to respond, often out of embarrassment or mistrust, said Alliance Director Larry Gilmore.

“They’re not responding to mail. They’re not responding to telephone calls,” Gilmore said. “Our goal is to identify trusted advisors in the community [like Mourning and Wade] to encourage them to take action.”

Hit hard by the crash in housing prices and rising unemployment, the metropolitan area that includes Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties had the 10th highest metropolitan foreclosure rate in the country last month, according to RealtyTrac, a private foreclosure tracking firm.

The rapid rise in foreclosures has gone hand in hand with a proliferation in loan scams.

Marietta Rodriguez, a director at the nonprofit NeighborWorks America, said schemes run the gamut from guarantees against foreclosure to criminals who pretend to own a property and steal deposits and months of rent from people looking for a place to live.

Warning signs, she said, include demands for payment upfront and absolute guarantees. “They morph everyday.” Rodriguez said. “They’re preying on people’s fears and vulnerabilities and making a buck off that ,” she said.

The Florida attorney general’s office had opened 50 investigations of suspicious loan modification or foreclosure rescue companies as of April 2009 and filed 12 lawsuits, six of those under a new law that took effect in October and aims to protect distressed homeowners. It is also developing a new complaint intake system and a consumer education initiative that warns consumers about the firms’ tactics.

Earlier this year, the office sued four South Florida-based companies, including Lincoln Lending Services, Keep Your Property, Outreach Housing, and Mortgage Crisis Solutions Association for allegedly bilking customers.

After a roundtable discussion Thursday, Mourning and Wade climbed on a bus that took them to the Opa-locka home of James Wilson, a 92-year-old veteran who nearly lost his house to foreclosure. He managed to hang on to it after his daughter, Flora Johnson, sought help from Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida.

As neighbors gathered outside to catch a glimpse of the basketball stars, Johnson told them what had happened to her father, who is paralyzed and unable to speak.

Between illnesses and an adjustable rate mortgage that climbed steadily higher, Johnson said the family fell behind on payments.

“We both fell ill. In the meantime, the mortgage company gave me a threatening letter. I sent the money in, and I was short two dollars and they didn’t apply it to my account. They held it,” Johnson said. “When I sent the next money order, they took the whole thing [with] late fees and all of that.”

She sought help, and eventually found her way to Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida.

While her neighbors clamored to have Mourning and Wade sign basketballs or jerseys, Johnson asked the athletes to sign the flier that led her to help at Neighborhood Housing Services.