A chance to hold on to their homes

April 19, 2009; As originally appeared in The Advocate

STAMFORD -- More than 100 struggling homeowners from across the region came to the Yerwood Center Saturday to meet face-to-face with bank loan officers and debt counselors in hopes of preventing foreclosures.

By the end of the three-hour event, 36 people walked away with their mortgage payments reduced by as much as $564 a month, according to the organizer, Christopher Meek.

The outcome marked a success for Meek, a city resident and Goldman Sachs trader who spent months reaching out to banks and nonprofit agencies to arrange the event.

Across the country, foreclosure prevention forums and workshops have been set up to assist the millions of homeowners defaulting on their mortgages. In Stamford, there a total of 116 foreclosure filings took place last year, more than three times those in 2007.

But Meek decided the most valuable events were ones where actual lending institutions were involved.

"The real nuts and bolts of it is sitting down face to face," he said. "It's 'Joe Lender' talking to 'Joe Borrower.' By having the personal interaction, you're going to make a lot more progress than calling a generic 800 number."

Representatives from five banks were at the event: HSBC, People's United Bank, New Alliance Bank, Webster Bank and Freedom Mortgage. Also on hand were debt and housing counselors from organizations such as the Housing Development Fund, Urban League of Southern Connecticut and Connecticut Housing Finance Authority.

Most homeowners who had their loans modified were those who had their mortgages with HSBC, Meek said.

The bank, which has one branch in Stamford, brought eight loan officers. But it also promoted the event to clients across the tri-state area. Their representatives were the busiest, occupying an entire room in the Yerwood Center.

Among the homeowners, several shared stories about reversals in fortune that have left them desperate and vulnerable to fraud.

One woman, who declined to give her name, said she was a Norwalk resident who came because she was having difficult meeting her mortgage payments.

"I've depleted my savings and maxed out my credit card," she said. Her employer, a rubber and plastics company, had recently cut her pay by 20 percent. Her husband, a general contractor, has seen his work dry up as a result of the recession, she said.

Recently, a person offered to refinance their loan for an up-front payment of $1,000, she said.

She seemed resigned to accept the deal until hearing Saturday from Carol Sydnor, a director at Mutual Housing Association.

"If someone wants to charge you for a service that is free, you need to run," Sydnor told homeowners.

She urged them to seek help from organizations such as Mutual Housing, which serves as an advocate for homeowners and helps them wade through the grunt work of loan remodifications and forbearances.

"You do not want to do this process alone," Sydnor said.

Meek said he made certain to give everyone a tip sheet issued by the Federal Reserve on avoiding foreclosure scams.

"There's a lot of that going on," he said, adding that about a dozen people told him that they had come across similar offers.

With one session to help homeowners avoid foreclosure under his belt, Meek has already scheduled a second event at the Yerwood Center on May 30. He also is looking into additional dates for events in Norwalk and Bridgeport.

His focus will be to continue pressuring more banks to participate, namely Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America. Another aim will be getting the word out to the city's sizable Hispanic community.

But for the 38-year-old financial executive, who had no previous experience as an event organizer, Saturday's turnout and results were encouraging.

"I was just hoping to help one person at a time," he said. "If we can help out 36 people in one shot, that speaks volumes for all the banks and agencies involved."