HONOR -- Wayne and Lana Packman recently found themselves in a financial "stranglehold" and facing foreclosure when their monthly house payment ballooned from $600 to $800 per month.
The Mancelona area couple were anxiety-ridden by continuous phone calls from their mortgage lender and nearly lost hope when the local newspaper listed their home for a sheriff's sale.
But the Packmans now are among a growing list of more than two dozen area homeowners whose homes and financial futures are back on track, thanks to a Foreclosure Rebound program through the nonprofit Benzie Housing Council.
"We were just strangled. We tried to negotiate with the bank, but they didn't want to negotiate with us," Wayne said. "The Benzie Housing Council got on our side and these predator lenders backed off.
"It was like having a big brother looking over your shoulder ... and we were able to sleep at night," he said.
The council initiated a pilot program last year that uses volunteers from banks and real estate agencies to negotiate loan modifications, revolving interest-free loans to help homeowners catch up on back debt, and credit counselors to keep them on track.
Foreclosure Rebound was launched full-force in March with about an 80 percent success rate keeping homes out of foreclosure, said John O'Neill, the Council's executive director.
"Because we invented the program and it's not coming down from a federal or state agency, we can modify it to ... each individual's needs," O'Neill said. "In the extreme case where somebody has income, after the sheriff's sale we are able to purchase the home and we sell it back to them on land contract."
Foreclosure Rebound is funded by donations from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, the Benzie County Community Trust, community fundraisers and a modest loan fee based on participants' financial ability.
The program is open to residents of Benzie, Leelanau, Manistee, Antrim and Grand Traverse counties.
Doug Cook is president of West Michigan Bank and Trust and a volunteer negotiator who joined the program this spring. Negotiators often are able to lower interest rates, reduce the amount owed on a mortgage or both, Cook said, something most lenders were less willing to consider in the past.
"It is a big help to have someone who knows the process and can talk with the lender at their level," Cook said. "There are so many loans going south that (lenders) are realizing that it is to their advantage to accept some of these other alternatives."
For more information on the Foreclosure Rebound program, call the Benzie Housing Council at 325-6402.
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