Martinsburg workshop aims to help those struggling with mortgages

Residents should bring all of their home mortgage-related documents

May 16, 2012|By MATTHEW UMSTEAD | matthew.umstead@herald-mail.com

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Homeowners struggling with their mortgages can learn about help that is available at a “Project: Save Our Homes” workshop today in Martinsburg.

Residents should bring all of their home mortgage-related documents to today’s workshop, which will be from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the newly opened West Virginia attorney general’s Eastern Panhandle office at 269 Aikens Center.

Deputy Attorney General Jill Miles said the office is being funded through the national foreclosure settlement that multiple states, including West Virginia, reached with the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers — Bank of America/Countrywide, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and GMAC/Ally Financial.

West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw announced in February that the state had secured $33.8 million in foreclosure relief and mortgage modification help for residents statewide to settle claims of foreclosure and mortgage-servicing fraud and abuse.

Of that amount, Miles said $6 million was allotted to the state to reach out to residents who might need foreclosure assistance.

By Wednesday at 2:30 p.m., at least 20 people signed in at the Save of Homes workshop, which was at the Charles Town (W.Va.) Public Library, according to the attorney general’s office.

On Tuesday night, more than 2,100 eastern West Virginia residents in eight counties took part in a “teletown hall,” Miles said.

About 38,000 households were contacted as part of the outreach event, which was held in cooperation with AARP, according to the attorney general’s office.

“Anybody’s that eligible, we want to find them,” Miles said.

At the workshops, residents can file a complaint to enlist the attorney general’s support and then meet with staff attorneys to help address their concerns.

Residents’ mortgage-related paperwork is scanned and returned to the individuals before they leave the workshop, officials said.

Hailey Milan, who came with her father to the workshop with concerns about a “predatory” debt-collection company, said Wednesday’s workshop was very helpful.

Milan said the company took actions without notifying her family and also sent them a “scare tactic” letter.

“People had been doing things behind our back that we had no knowledge of,” Milan said. “It’s disgusting.”

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