Thursday, July 14, 2011

Emergency Homeowners' Loan Program

The Emergency Homeowners’ Loan Program (EHLP) was created to provide emergency mortgage assistance to homeowners who are temporarily and involuntarily unemployed or underemployed due to the economy or a medical condition and are at risk of foreclosure. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act provided $1 billion to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to develop EHLP.


The Emergency Homeowners’ Loan Program (EHLP) can provide eligible homeowners with a 0% interest, forgivable loan that pays past-due mortgage payments (principal, interest, taxes, insurance, attorney fees), as well as a portion of the homeowner’s monthly mortgage payment for up to 24 consecutive months, or up to $50,000, whichever comes first, and provided that certain eligibility requirements are maintained.


The first step is to get a copy of the Pre-Applicant Screening Worksheet. Worksheets are available online at http://www.findehlp.org/ as well as from nonprofit housing counseling agencies participating in the EHLP program. You can submit the completed worksheet to an EHLP counseling agency in person, via fax or email. The deadline for worksheet submission is July 22, 2011.