Program to aid military personnel with mortgage assistance

By Tennessee Housing Development Agency

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee’s successful program helping people maintain their mortgage has added two categories for eligibility with funds provided through the Attorneys General office.

For wartime members of the military that find themselves delinquent on their mortgage payments or for members of the military facing a permanent change of station (PCS) and trouble selling their current home, THDA encourages application for assistance through www.KeepMyTNHome.org.

“We appreciate it when military families make a commitment to a community,” said Bill ClenDening, THDA assistant director of Single Family Programs,
“so we want to assist them if we can when their military service calls them away from a Tennessee town, or when during wartime they find it difficult to manage their mortgage payment.”

Tennessee Housing Development Agency was allocated funds in 2010 for the mortgage foreclosure prevention program from the US Treasury as part of the Troubled Assets Recovery Program. THDA was assigned $ 217 million to help eligible Tennesseans. THDA has made or is making payments on behalf of over 6,400 households.

In February 2012, 49 state attorneys general offices announced a joint state-federal settlement with the country’s five largest mortgage servicers. The national mortgage settlement provides relief from the servicers to eligible homeowners in the form of loan modifications, refinance, forbearance, and short sales. The settlement also sets out new servicing standards for the servicers to implement to improve communications with their borrowers.

In addition funds were provided to each participating state through the state’s Attorney General’s office and these funds were allocated to THDA. It is this funding that is expanding the Keep My Tennessee Home program to offer mortgage assistance to eligible men and women of the military.

Applications to the program are made by answering pre-screening questions on the website: www.KeepMyTNHome.org. Applicants are paired with foreclosure prevention counselors who assist in the documentation. The assistance is a 0% non-recourse, forgivable loan.

THDA continues to provide for free foreclosure counseling. Free counseling services have been provided to 14,482 households as of 03/31/2014. Counselors’ names can be found here: http://bit.ly/1gHPQ04.