Endless Winter?

Those of us living in here in the Upper Midwest are still talking about last winter: record snowfalls, cold temps, and what seemed like a longer season than usual. And elsewhere, folks aren’t easily forgetting “Snowmageddon”–the February 2011 storm that shut down most of the eastern U.S.

Then there was the summer of 2011–with high temperatures in Texas and Oklahoma well over 100 degrees F. for several months in a row.

Here at MortgageKeeper, our stats tell us that 2011’s extreme weather left not only bad memories, but also high heating and cooling bills that have yet to be paid.

In Q3, MortgageKeeper referred nearly 224,000 homeowners–more than ever before–to local, best-in-class services to get financial and personal help. Of those hundreds of thousands of referrals, 15% were asking for help with their utility bills. This beat out food assistance (13%) and employment services (12%) as the most requested referral type.

Solutions aren’t easy, with predictions that a winter of similar magnitude is heading our way. We’ll continue to batten down the hatches, and hope that local organizations can offer help to those still fighting the weather changes months in arrears.