If you can buy a coffee and a bagel without getting out from behind the wheel, why can't you get financial advice when threatened with foreclosure?
That's what's planned in the continuing "Stay in Your Home" campaign. The effort will be in the parking lot of the Delavan Grider Community Center, off Moselle Street, at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Erie County Clerk Mickey Kearns is working with the Western New York Law Center to let people know what their rights are, if served with a foreclosure notice or expecting one. Kearns said you don't have to leave your home, even if a financial institution has given you that foreclosure notice.
"The bank cannnot take title of the property until the foreclosure is complete. So what we have been saying to people, especially during COVID-19, is that if you're behind on your loan, stay in your home and we'll be offering free confidential sessions for Erie County residents seeking assistance on residential foreclosure and zombie home prevention," Kearns said.
Kearns said as state and federal bars on foreclosures and evictions are fading away, the expectation is that there will be more foreclosure processes starting. That's why the information can be valuable early on, whether about a notice already received or an expected one.
"Our home is so important to us and people are very prideful. They don't want to talk about their personal business. But these drive-up opportunities give them an opportunity to speak with a representative who can help them, especially counsel them, to learn more about their options if they are facing foreclosure or if they are behind on their tax or mortgage payment," Kearns said.
