Job Help…from Your Bank

We read with interest The Wall Street Journal’s recent article on Fifth Third Bancorp. Seems that the enterprising folks at Fifth Third Bank are expanding a job coaching program that offers training for homeowners who have fallen behind on their payments. It specifically targets delinquent homeowners who have lost their job or had a significant drop in their income.

The tiny pilot program was quite a success. Eleven of the 28 participants found jobs after 6 months. Best of all, none of the participants were foreclosed upon, although Fifth Third maintains that they kept “the foreclosure clock” running.

Here at MortgageKeeper, our data consistently points to the need struggling homeowners have for job assistance. It is consistently one of the top three needs of folks who don’t know how they will make their next mortgage payment. To paraphrase the old saying: Giving a homeowner a loan modification will help decrease his payments, but teaching a homeowner to find stable employment will help them never to be delinquent again.

MortgageKeeper has many mortgage servicer clients who provide employment and other support to their borrowers, using our products to help delinquent homeowners get to the root of their financial problems and find a way to make their financial picture whole again.  We look forward to hearing more of Fifth Third’s successful program