Foreclosure counselors are swamped

By LESLIE A. PAPPAS, The News Journal

While foreclosure filings continue to rise throughout the state, housing counselors at Neighborhood House Inc. in Wilmington say they're overwhelmed with pending mortgage defaults.

"Our books are filling up with default clients," said counselor Brenda J. Dryden.

Foreclosure filings in Delaware continued to tick up in September, rising 15.5 percent last month compared with a year earlier, and bringing the total filings for the state up 32.7 percent for the first quarter of the fiscal year.

Hardest hit was Sussex County, which saw a 75 percent increase in foreclosure filings for the quarter ending in September, from 97 last year to 170; Kent county's quarterly totals were up 47 percent, from 104 last year to 153 this year; while filings in New Castle County were up 21 percent, with 599 filings, up from 494 a year ago.

"The biggest problem is in the south at this point," said Gerry Kelly, Delaware's deputy bank commissioner for consumer affairs.

As foreclosures continue to rise, downsizing in the mortgage industry is making it even harder for struggling homeowners to get help, because fewer people are servicing the loans, said Kelly, urging homeowners facing default to seek help at the earliest sign of trouble.

"These people can't wait until the day before sheriff's sale," Kelly said. "If they don't get help early, they're not going to get help."

Neighborhood House lends a hand to struggling homeowners at any stage of foreclosure -- from a month delinquent to the last days before sheriff's sale. But it's getting more difficult to help. Five years ago, the agency saw about five default clients per month; now they come in at a rate of five to eight per week.

"We can't save everybody but we do our darnedest," Dryden said. "My priority as a housing counselor is to keep the homeowner in their home. I don't want my homeowners to become another statistic."

An increasing number of people have fallen into trouble in the last two or three years because of downsizing or other financial issues, Dryden said.

"We don't know what we're going to do this year. It's probably going to double," said counselor Karen Brady, referring to the number of default clients. "We don't have a lot of funding to get more counselors to help more people."

Contact Leslie A. Pappas at 324-2880 or lpappas@delawareonline.com.

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