Foreclosure victims face deadline

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Ohio (WDTN) - Housing advocates are calling on the federal government to extend the deadline to enroll in a program designed to give relief to those who feel their foreclosures were mishandled.  It's free to enroll in the Independent Foreclosure Review, but the deadline is December 31.

Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio estimates 140,000 Buckeyes might be eligible for assistance which could include compensation up to $125,000.

Louevinar McQuay is a former homeowner who just last month got mail telling her about the program, though she lost her home in April.

We met her at "Helping Hands" in Trotwood  where she sought help filling out an application to enroll in a federal program.

McQuay had a home in Dayton where she lived with her children and ran a daycare operation.  She told 2 NEWS that in 2009, property taxes drove her mortgage payments to a level she could not afford. When she lost her house she lost her job too.

She described what it was like going through the foreclosure process, "Living on the edge. Keeping it from the kids. You know, until I get a final decision, nay or yay and pretending life was okay.
Not sleeping at night because where am I going to go?"

McQuay said she tried to work with her mortgage company and investors herself , but got nowhere.  "That was the thing. I had to deal with it for so long. I wanted it over, 2009 to 2012, three years of not knowing," she explained.

Alfred Patterson of CountyCorp told 2 NEWS, "The independent review process is a good thing.  It's like any other process. It takes a lot of time." Patterson is the homeownership manager at CountyCorp.  Despite a decline in foreclosures in the Dayton region, Patterson says many people still need help.  He says, however, some people don't ask for help because there's a stigma attached to foreclosure.

He thinks the government should extend the deadline for the  Independent Foreclosure Review.

To figure out if you are eligible, consider the following: if the property was your primary residence, if you were in the foreclosure process between January 2009 and the end of 2010, and if  your mortgage was serviced by one of 27 companies, including several of the big banks.

McQuay suggest you come forward.  She said, "On your own, on that telephone, on that computer, you're nobody,  you're lucky if you get a phone call except the letter that comes through the mail to tell you what date the sheriff will be putting a notice on your home so don't wait that long."

It is free to enroll.  You can request an independent review online at www.independentforeclosurereview.com or call 1-888-952-9105 for more information. 

The Federal Reserve Board and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency set up the Independent Foreclosure Review in April 2011.  2 NEWS contacted The Federal Reserve Board's public affairs office to inquire about possibly extending the deadline and received the following statement from Susan Stawick via email, "I'm afraid I don't have a response for you on this matter."