View Foreclosure Prevention Guide

Troubled by staggering foreclosure rates across the city and nation, New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today has issued a second edition of a Foreclosure Prevention Guide to provide New Yorkers with necessary information to hold onto their homes.

“Over more than a year, my office has heard countless stories from anguished New Yorkers poised to lose their homes,” Thompson said. “We must do whatever we can to help our neighbors, friends, and colleagues so they are not victims of foreclosure.”

The updated guide provides necessary information about mortgages, how to avoid foreclosures, and foreclosure prevention counseling services. It also includes handy terminology to explain the foreclosure process to New Yorkers.
You can visit the Comptroller’s Web site at www.comptroller.nyc.gov to view the guide, or email Action@comptroller.nyc.gov or call (212) 669-4600 to request a copy.

Over the last 14 months, Thompson’s Office has worked to help New Yorkers, starting with a Foreclosure Prevention Helpline launched in April 26, 2007. The office has held forums, banking days, run public service announcements and distributed thousands of the informational guides across the city.

“The sad truth is that there are many that people that we are not reaching, because they don’t seek help or wait until it is too late,” Thompson said. “Unfortunately, this crisis shows no signs of abating. That’s why we must act now.”

The worsening foreclosure crisis is continues to substantially impact the New York City area, with several neighborhoods being severely affected. According to RealtyTrac Inc., the number of foreclosure filings in New York rose 25 percent for the 12 months ended May 31.

The Comptroller’s Foreclosure Prevention Helpline – which is at (212) 669-4600-, for instance, continues to be flooded with calls. From April 26, 2007 until June 24, 2008, the Helpline has received 3,414 calls for help or information and opened up 1,380 cases.

Of the 1,106 New York City-based, open cases, 38.9 percent are from Queens, 31.8 are from Brooklyn, 13.9 percent from the Bronx, 12.75 from Staten Island, and 2 percent from Manhattan.

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