office 505.764.8867
fax 505.764.9121
email usbc@unm.edu
Housing Counseling
USBC's offers Housing Counseling for First Time Home owners and home owners facing a foreclosure crisis.
• Foreclosure Counseling
The nation is facing the greatest foreclosure crisis since the Great Depression. In February 2008, foreclosure filings were up 60% over February 2007. In New Mexico, one out of every 395 households faced the loss of their home during the last three months of 2007.
The trouble is not behind us. Foreclosures continue to surge. Renters suffer, too, as lenders quickly evict tenants from foreclosed homes. More and more New Mexicans are driven into bankruptcy. Neighborhoods are deteriorating as foreclosed homes are boarded up and left vacant.
USBC offers foreclosure counseling for families facing this crisis.
• First Time Home Buyer Program
USBC's fair lending and housing programs include:
• Monitoring compliance by NM lenders with laws and regulations prohibiting lending abuses and discrimination;
• One-to-one counseling for low-income first-time homebuyers needing assistance to qualify for and/or purchase a mortgage; people who want to refinance mortgages and need counseling to avoid predatory loans;
• Outreach to warn consumers and a network of providers about the perils of predatory lending and to inform them of assistance through USBC.
• Consultation and training for civil legal service providers, the private bar, judiciary, housing counselors, financial institutions, legislators, regulators, and social service organizations so they are better informed about the situation of low-income New Mexicans faced with predatory loans and foreclosure.
• Legislative and administrative advocacy to promote public policies and practices that promote access to fair credit for low-income New Mexicans;
• Predatory Mortgage Prevention
The subprime market has been fertile ground for predatory practices. Subprime mortgages routinely increase foreclosure risk with the following features:
• balloon payments;
• "liar loans" not requiring documentation;
• lax underwriting;
For more information see our Foreclosure Crisis Background
