SC HELP Reports Funding Results
October 28, 2013
COLUMBIA, SC – October 28, 2013 – SC HELP, a foreclosure-prevention program initiated to keep responsible homeowners from losing their homes, reports its total funding results through Sept. 30, 2013.
Since the program launched in 2011, SC HELP has:
- Approved and funded 6,276 eligible South Carolina homeowners.
- Dispersed a total of $79,927,847
- Committed additional funds totaling $27,701,991
Initiated through funding by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and a program of the South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority, SC HELP (South Carolina Homeownership and Employment Lending Program) provides mortgage-payment assistance for responsible homeowners who are falling behind on mortgage payments due to circumstances beyond their control. Circumstances include unemployment, underemployment, a significant reduction in self-employed income, catastrophic illness, divorce or death of a spouse.
“We can report that SC HELP’s mortgage assistance has helped 6,276 South Carolina homeowners prevent foreclosure and stay in their homes in two years. In fact, we’ve distributed more funds at a faster rate to homeowners than we originally projected when the program began,” said Matt Rivers, director of SC HELP. “Families keeping their homes is good for all South Carolinians as it keeps our state’s neighborhoods and property values intact.”
Available SC HELP assistance includes:
- Reinstatement Assistance: Helps to pay arrearages and bring the loan current.
- Monthly Payment Assistance: Assists homeowners with monthly payments for a period of time while they seek employment and return to self-sustainability.
- Transition Assistance: Provides funding to assist families as they transition from homeownership in cases where the mortgage cannot be salvaged and the homeowner is able to negotiate a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.
While SC HELP has benefitted over 6,000 homeowners since its initiation in 2011, the program would like to assist even more homeowners. To meet this end, SC HELP constantly evaluates the effectiveness of the program, and when appropriate, amends its agreements with the U.S. Department of the Treasury to include approved program changes and expansions. Based on current trends, SC HELP foresees committing all available funding before the expiry of the program.
ABOUT SC HELP
In March 2010, South Carolina received nearly $300 million in foreclosure mitigation funding through the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s (Treasury) Housing Finance Agency Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets. With Treasury’s approval, the SC Housing Corp., a non-profit division of the South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority, created the SC HELP program. SC HELP is a foreclosure prevention program that assists responsible homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments due to circumstances beyond their control. Visit SCHELP.gov for more information
