The state Department of Financial Services (DFS) will send a 36-foot-long van around New York in an attempt to prevent mortgage foreclosures.
Foreclosure counselors will staff the van, which is equipped with computers and communications systems. DFS is calling the vehicle a Mobile Command Center.
The counselors will attempt to assist homeowners who are in the middle of foreclosures or whose homes are in pre-foreclosure. They will provide information about loan modifications that are available under federal law.
(Sponsored)
Why Now Is the Time To Start Planning for Your Company’s Business Succession
You’ve built a great business, and you love what you do. Retirement is a long way off, so why worry about how you’ll transition the ownership of your company down
Timekeeping Trap: Be Careful When “Rounding” an Employee’s Work Time
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulations do not require an employer to track and pay an employee for the exact number of minutes they actually work. As currently written,
Counselors will also log complaints about lender and mortgage-services abuse. DFS will then investigate those complaints.
The effort comes after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a DFS foreclosure-prevention unit in his State of the State address last month.
“Gov. Cuomo has directed the Department of Financial Services to use all of the resources at its disposal to assist homeowners already in foreclosure and those at risk of foreclosure,” DFS Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky said in a news release. “We will be sending staff and our Mobile Command Center to areas of the state where foreclosures are the biggest problem.”
The center will be deployed for the first time tomorrow in Suffolk County on Long Island. It will later travel to other areas in the state with high foreclosure rates and areas where DFS anticipates high foreclosure rates developing.
Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com
