OxfordPress.com

HAMILTON — Drowning in debt? Help is on the way.

On Tuesday, Aug. 19, Butler County will host a Borrower Outreach Day to let people talk face-to-face with 10 major lenders — including Chase, National City Mortgage and Wells Fargo — and attend credit-counseling workshops.

The event is scheduled from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Butler Tech Public Safety Education Complex.

"Anyone who's worried about their next loan payment, for any reason, should attend this event," said Butler County Treasurer Nancy Nix, who organized the event with help from the state.

"Hopefully, the people will be able to meet face to face with their mortgage provider and work out loan remodifications," she said.

Local social service agencies will also be on-hand to counsel people and offer classes on rebuilding credit, loss mitigation, refinancing options, foreclosure prevention and their legal rights.

Lorie Batdorf, executive director of Neighborhood Housing Services in Hamilton, hopes the event makes people aware of what services are available — mostly free of charge — for people in financial straits.

The problems she sees are people waiting too long before addressing the problem or turning to a company that charges a lot of money but delivers little.

"I think they (homeowners) are scared, they're overwhelmed, they're inundated so they're not doing anything," Batdorf said. "Typically, we're getting phone calls when they get the sheriff's sale notice."

If her agency is contacted early, Batdorf said, "we can intervene immediately and work out payments to keep them in their house, rather than at the last minute."

Nix said the state became interested in doing a Borrower Outreach Day here after it found Butler County's foreclosure rate was the 10th highest in the state. There were 2,350 foreclosures in the county last year, and that number is on track to increase this year, according to the Butler County Clerk of Courts office.