What if Your Employer Had Recommended Loansafe.org?

[Steve Donlin]

The current mortgage and credit dilemma that we find ourselves in, is affecting all Americans. It is certainly affecting business owners who are having trouble paying their mortgages, and no doubt the employees with mortgages of their own.

The employers of America are also being directly affected by their employees mortgage troubles. When an employee is experiencing financial trouble, they are frequently distracted from their job functions, thereby reducing their effectiveness for their employers.

Employees who are facing mortgage problems, Notice of Default, foreclosure proceedings, Notice of Trustee Sale, are almost always very embarrassed, and therefore very reluctant to discuss the problem with their employers. Their problems directly affect their jobs because they are making phone calls, sending emails, sending faxes, receiving collection calls from the lenders, on and on throughout the work day.

Employees with this added stress are prone to making mistakes with their job duties, drug and alcohol problems get more pronounced, marital problems and family life gets very disrupted. Accidents on the job would likely increase because of these distractions.

This mortgage mess has very far-reaching effects, probably a lot further than most people realize. OK, so here is what I would like to know from our loyal Loansafe members and guests:

If you knew your employer's Human Resources dept. or your Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) or some another confidential way to refer you for mortgage help, would you have approached them to ask for guidance?

Please help me out here with your participation in this informal survey. As always here at Loansafe.org, your full anonymity is assured.

[Dan Bailey]

Personally, I would have. It would have saved me alot of wasted hours going through scam sites, help as long as you followed their religion sites, sites for onlt those who fit in certain catagories, etcc...it took me a long time to stumble on-discover loansafe.
I didn't have an "employer" at the time I did, but if I knew there was a ....contact or direction... through my employer, I would have used it in a heartbeat.

Hell, even the govnmt and local govnmt sites were useless to me. When I contacted them, they pretty much told me tough luck. If you're thinking of doing what I suspect this question leads to...go for it!

[tryingtostay]

Every HOA newsletter we have received in the last year has a little box "Have trouble affording your mortgage? Worried about foreclosure? Call the HOPE hotline" and gives the number. I think it's a subtle way of trying to help people.

I think a flyer on an employee bulletin board about what numbers to call for loan depts of mortgage companies, numbers to the HOPE hotline, and a link to this board would be important and invaluable tools for employees to have access to at the workplace. I don't know if I would call anyone at work about the info, though. I'd be too embarrassed at first. I'd rather get the helpful info from a flyer.

LOL, I've gotten past the point of embarrassment now. I'll tell strangers on the street my housing story now!

[Steve Donlin]

Thank you for your reply.

I believe that if employers had contact information readily available to disburse to their employees in newsletter articles, pay check stuffers, bulletin board posters, etc. that employees who are suffering would act sooner, not later before the problem got much worse.

[lgastel]

I would never approach an employer. My personal life is private. However, I believe just having some type of a poster or information posted at work with information for homeowners like us would have been wonderful.

[nblair70]

Steve,

As a living, I present benefit packages to employees. I work for a broker that sells group insurance (medical, dental, life, 401k, etc., etc.). Most insurance packages include some sort of EAP program, part of presentation will routinely go over how an EAP program works and how employee's can access it.

More and more employers want me to present information that helps the employees with day to day living, for example I may go over a wellness program, or how to use a website. I always speak on how to save money on medical expenses and trends in the industry.

I believe loansafe could be a tremendous part of an EAP/wellness program. My company does not have an eap, but my husband's does and it was a place I thought to call. If you worked with EAP's as a resource than as people like me do employee education meetings we can include "mortgage assistance". EAP's are 100% confidential, employers do not know when someone calls or why they call - just that there are x number of calls made in a month. It's a tremendous value to the employee to help diffuse the level of stress.

Also, EAP's will send out quarterly newsletters - generally wellness or financial information. Loansafe, and information about what to do when facing a forclosure would be an excellent addition to those newsletter. Educationing consumers that there are choices out there, but they have to act.

I hope to have a happy ending to my story, I am still waiting to hear on my own loan mod. But it would have been so much better if I had known my options 6 months ago!!!

[tootsiepop]

I think posting a flier with a number/website on it would be beneficial. It would prevent embarrasment on the part of the employee from having to go in and explain it all. We have been lucky in that my husband's employer has been incredibly understanding, but I am not sure if all employers are as good about needing time off from work and that sort of thing.

[melissasue44]

I know I am late on this reply but, I would without a doubt ask for more information, especially knowing that I was losing my job real soon, this would be information that would be so informative to distressed workers as well, this would give them a heads up approach to what they might be facing or are facing in the process of losing their jobs. I have recently lost my job of 22 years, to Mexico and China. When they first told us that are jobs were up no later than the last quarter of this year, they started short timing us at work and this is when my problems started. And this is when people start frantically making wrong decisions. Under stress! If had know about this one site alone it would have saved me so much heartache and trouble and wasted time.. I have only been coming to this site for less than a week and the information is endless!!! KNOWLEDGE IS..>>> POWER. I am convinced!!