HOPE NOW — a two-and-a-half-year-old alliance between HUD approved counseling agents, servicers, investors, and two of the nation’s largest banks — issued a press release last week touting a campaign it feels will make a difference in the lives of distressed homeowners.

The “Reach Out” campaign (that’s what the big announcement refers to) amounts to little more than computer-generated form letters mailed to homeowners who are 90+ days late on their mortgage payment, encouraging them to seek the assistance of a HUD-approved counselor.

Why on Earth HOPE NOW is touting this as a major initiative worthy of a press release is beyond me, and frankly, it gives none of us — especially those of us who understand the impact of the crisis at-hand — very little reason for any hope whatsoever!

Before going any further into what I believe HOPE NOW Alliance members can and should be doing to help distressed homeowners, read the following press release for yourself:

Apr 08, 2009 09:30 ET

HOPE NOW Launches “Reach Out” Campaign to Encourage At-Risk Homeowners to Work With Counselors

Seriously Delinquent Homeowners Urged to Work With HUD-Approved, Free Counseling Agencies

WASHINGTON, DC–(Marketwire - April 8, 2009) - HOPE NOW, the private sector alliance of mortgage servicers, non-profit counselors, and investors that has been working aggressively to prevent foreclosures and keep homeowners in their homes, today announced that it had begun a new initiative to encourage homeowners at serious risk of losing their homes to work with counseling agencies certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to determine options that will best serve their needs.

The “Reach Out” campaign is a targeted state-by-state initiative. The first initial phase of the campaign is an intensive effort targeted at Wisconsin homeowners who are 90+ days delinquent. In collaboration with the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA), HOPE NOW and 11 of its member servicers have begun to mail letters to homeowners about the HUD-certified, free, legitimate counseling agencies in their area and to urge them to take advantage of the services these agencies provide to get help.

HOPE NOW plans to expand Reach Out to other states with the highest percentage of extremely delinquent borrowers, including New Jersey, Texas, South Carolina and Florida.

Faith Schwartz, HOPE NOW’s executive director, said that working with a HUD-certified counseling agency is the best way a homeowner can be certain that they will actually get help. “HOPE NOW wants to make sure that homeowners are aware of the legitimate housing counseling services available to them in their community,” she said. “Qualified, professional assistance is available at no cost to the homeowner and we want to be sure everyone who needs it actually gets it.”

“We know that hundreds of homeowners are struggling with their mortgage but don’t know where to turn. We hope that by lending our name to this campaign, people will see the importance of contacting their servicer. So far, more than 900 struggling homeowners have received letters from HOPE NOW and WHEDA, and hundreds more will be receiving letters,” said Antonio Riley, executive director of WHEDA. “As the Executive Director of the state’s housing authority, I strongly urge every Wisconsin resident who has received one of these letters to pick up the phone and call for help now.”

Reach Out is an extension of HOPE NOW’s ongoing efforts to contact at-risk homeowners. Since it began in October 2007, HOPE NOW has sent more than 4.1 million letters to borrowers 60+ days delinquent urging them to make contact with their servicer. A significantly higher percentage of homeowners typically respond to the HOPE NOW mailings than similar mailings from individual mortgage servicers.

EMC Mortgage executive director Dana Dillard, who helped design the “Reach Out” campaign for HOPE NOW, said, “The Reach Out Campaign is one more way that HOPE NOW and its members are being proactive with the ultimate goal of keeping as many homeowners in their homes as we can.”

The “Reach Out” campaign is just one part of HOPE NOW’s aggressive five-prong homeowner outreach effort for 2009. In addition to “Reach Out” and the traditional mailing campaign, HOPE NOW is also in the midst of a “Bringing Hope Home” celebrity campaign headlined by Queen Latifah, is planning a phone-a-thon campaign for later this year, and plan to hold more than 30 homeowner outreach events across the country.

The 11 HOPE NOW servicer members participating in the “Reach Out” campaign include:

American Home Mortgage
Bank of America
Carrington Financial
Countrywide Financial
HomEq Servicing
HSBC
Litton Loan Servicing
Ocwen Financial Corporation
Saxon Mortgage Service
Select Portfolio Servicing
SunTrust
Wells Fargo
Wilshire

So let me get this straight…HOPE NOW’s mission is “to help as many homeowners as possible prevent foreclosure and stay in their homes” and they think sending letters to people in Wisconsin and elsewhere who are 90+ days late on their mortgage payments is going to help? Are they delusional?

HOPE NOW’s urging of seriously delinquent homeowners to work with HUD-approved counselors is like a conglomerate of ambulance services and hospitals standing along the side of the road urging seriously injured victims of a chain reaction automobile pileup to seek medical attention. Seriously, don’t you think now’s the time for a little Good Samaritanism?

The type of help Main Street needs right now is not found in an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper encouraging delinquent homeowners to meet with a HUD-approved counselor. Main Street needs its loans modified, and HOPE NOW’s members know this but individually demonstrate little interest in offering real help. Rather than spend valuable taxpayer money on letters and press releases touting said letters, how about stepping up and offering more hard-working American’s the same bailouts some of these companies received from the federal government?

Ralph R. Roberts, GRI, CRS Award-Winning REALTOR® and Author Loan Modification For Dummies (avail. Summer 2009)