Bush to speak on housing at debt-counseling agency in NJ
By JEFFREY GOLD | Associated Press Writer
March 28, 2008
NEWARK, N.J. - Joel Greenberg hopes President Bush continues to aid the growing numbers of homeowners squeezed by their mortgages.
On Friday, he'll get the chance to tell him that in person when Bush visits Greenberg's debt-counseling agency in central New Jersey.
"I'm obviously thrilled to see that the president has taken this cause up, and has been speaking since December about the Hope Now hot line (888-995-HOPE)," said Greenberg, president of Novadebt, whose counselors have seen a fivefold increase in calls over the past two years, much of them on mortgage problems.
Hope Now is a mortgage industry group organized by the Bush administration to coordinate a response to the mortgage crisis. This month, it reported that over 1 million homeowners had received repayment plans or loan modifications since July that will allow them to remain in their homes.
"We need more of the mortgage companies to step up to the plate and work out loan modifications for individuals," Greenberg said.
Based in Freehold Township, Novadebt is a nonprofit company that offers free and low-cost services, including counseling, education and debt management, to people in financial crises due to mortgages, credit card debt, or possible bankruptcies.
Novadebt, which has clients nationwide, is now getting 10,000 to 11,000 calls a month, up from 2,000 to 3,000 just two years ago, Greenberg said.
"The largest increase, by far, is in the area of housing, mortgage defaults," he said.
"We are facing an enormous crisis. It is getting ugly," Greenberg said.
The mortgage crisis that is affecting millions has spread from borrowers whose low teaser rates jumped, to those with conventional loans caught in a market in which home values are eroding.
"It went wild, and people buying homes never realized they were taking the risks," Greenberg said. "They weren't astute enough, or they believed in someone they shouldn't have believed in, or they had a life change."
Novadebt has a broad view of the situation; with seven offices in five states _ California, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Texas _ it oversees debt-management plans for 20,000 clients.
Founded in 1991 by Greenberg with just one other full-time employee, he now considers the company a "medium-sized" debt counselor with 210 workers, including over 100 counselors.
"We are far from the largest," Greenberg said.
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Novadebt: http://www.novadebt.org
Hope Now Alliance: http://www.hopenow.com