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Conference of Mayors, Wells Fargo Work toPrevent ForeclosuresThe U.S. Conference of Mayors andWells Fargo, who services about one ofevery six U.S. home loans, met for thefifth time in San Diego in April as part ofa national alliance focused on foreclosureprevention, property disposition, homeownership,and community development.Mayors and Conference of Mayors staffjoined Wells Fargo industry experts todiscuss efforts and strategies to addresshousing challenges in local municipalities.During the forum, Wells Fargo officialsemphasized the importance to encourageconstituents facing financial distressto contact their mortgage servicer.“When customers choose to workwith us, we help about seven of 10 witha solution to avoid foreclosure,” said JoeOhayon, senior vice president and headof community outreach with Wells FargoHome Mortgage servicing.While 93 percent of Wells Fargo mortgagecustomers are current with theirloans and the company’s delinquency andforeclosure rates are better than the industryaverage, Ohayon says commonly,homeowners’ financial challenges extendbeyond their mortgage and are oftenrelated to an employment change – losinga job or making less money at a new job,health problems and even divorce.“Our goal is to help as many homeownersas we can avoid foreclosurewhenever possible,” said Ohayon.At the home preservation workshopthat was held at the same time as the SanDiego forum, Wells Fargo met with 138homeowners struggling with mortgagepayments among more than 40,000 thecompany has met with at its workshopsnationwide.The effort is helping homeowners avoidforeclosure. For instance, after an excellentpayment history on their first and onlyhome, Roderick and Cleo of Californiawere experiencing payment challengesand attended a recent Wells Fargo homepreservation workshop. They had a seriesof personal setbacks beyond their control,including Roderick suffering an injuryat his job and Cleo getting laid off fromhers. That changed their income and theirability to stay current with their mortgagepayments. The choice to attend the workshopresulted in their payment being moremanageable, and helped them keep theirhome and avoid foreclosure.Wells Fargo has participated in morethan 1,100 home preservation eventssince 2008, including hosting 88 largescalehome preservation workshops. WellsFargo has scheduled more home preservationworkshops in Phoenix (April 23),Stockton (CA) (May 7), Dallas (May 23),New Orleans (June 14), and Birmingham(AL) (June 20). Local mayors are welcometo tour the upcoming workshops.Wells Fargo customers facing mortgagepayment challenges can visit the websitewww.wellsfargo.com/homeassist/ or call800-678-7986 to work with Wells Fargoto explore options that may be availableto help them avoid foreclosure.Wells Fargo is also taking a proactiveapproach to maintain abandoned properties.Officials may contact the WellsFargo Home Mortgage Property PreservationDepartment by calling toll free at1-877-617-5274 or send e-mail to codeviolations@wellsfargo.com.“We service and regularly inspectand maintain our vacant properties,” saidWells Fargo Home Mortgage’s PropertyPreservation Department Vice PresidentSherilee Massier.Another important resource is a database,known as MERS®, that can be usedto research the mortgage servicer forat-risk properties. MERS provides accessto data on the MERS® System free ofcharge to homeowners, county officials,and regulatory officials (subject to privacyrestrictions). Officials can access thedata on local mortgage loans registeredon the MERS® System online at www.mersinc.org or by calling toll-free 1-888-679-6377.usmayors.orgPage 18 U.S. MAYOR April 29, 2013