3 lenders skip COVID-19 relief help
Three are holdouts as 41 work to aid Oklahomans
With $86 million in federal money to spend, the state of Oklahoma, working with willing lenders, is helping a lot of people keep their homes rather than lose them to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nearly 120 lenders and loan servicers across the country, 41 in Oklahoma, are working with the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency as it provides approved pandemic-affected borrowers with up to $35,000 to reinstate mortgages out of default, make monthly payments and pay other bills that come with homeownership.
Three Oklahoma lenders that could participate are not, leaving 10 borrowers without federal assistance they otherwise could use and in danger of losing their homes, the agency said in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. The lenders are:
• Tinker Federal Credit Union in Oklahoma City, which bills itself as the largest credit union in the state. “We are not a ‘no’ on the OHFA agreement,” said Nancy Ward, executive vice president and chief administrative officer. The credit union is working to resolve conflicts between the fund program and credit union membership terms and conditions, she said.
• Security First National Bank in Hugo. The bank did not respond to a request for comment.
• FirstBank in Antlers. The bank is “evaluating whether to opt in,” CEO Mark Burrage said. “We haven’t had anybody inquire about it for months. If there was an actual need to participate in the program, we would.”
Sherry, Anita and Trevesia were able to keep their homes after receiving federal help through the Oklahoma Homeowner Assistance Fund, administered by the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency. The OHFA featured the women in its 2022 annual report, one year into the program. The agency’s policy is to use only first names for privacy concerns.
Sherry’s husband is self-employed, servicing equipment in bars and nightclubs, and he lost all of his business when COVID-19 shut them down in early 2020. Paying regular bills exhausted the couple’s savings, and then a lump-sum property tax payment came due, and they didn’t have it.
“I was panicking. Oh, thank God I found it when I did. It was exactly what I needed,” Sherry said of first reading about the program. “It said they were helping homeowners with mortgages or property taxes or even homeowner’s insurance. And I was just needing the property taxes. So I went online, filled it out, and they got right back.”
Anita and her husband already were dealing with health problems when costs related to COVID eventually sent their mortgage into foreclosure, and they stood to lose their home of 20 years.
Back property taxes owed also loomed over Trevesia after she caught COVID twice in a year, couldn’t work, and lost her income. She feared that losing her home was next.
Help for homeowners comes from the federal American Rescue Plan Act
Help was made available by the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021. The program launched in January 2022 and will last until the assistance is disbursed or Sept. 30, 2025, whichever comes first.
The money can be used to reinstate a mortgage out of default, make mortgage payments, pay for homeowners insurance or homeowner’s association dues, and pay property taxes. Most disbursements help households at or below 50% of area median income, with the OHFA negotiating with lenders, loan servicers and others owed.
The program started with $86 million. As of Feb. 6, nearly $12,485,861 had been spent, and $61,512,961 was still available, although $54.5 million of it was tied to about 1,500 applications under consideration, “in the pipeline,” said Valenthia Doolin, director of the program.
“There was a huge wave when we began,” Doolin said, but it’s leveled off. The agency is receiving about 20 applications per day.
Also, 802 households had been helped in 56 counties.
Here are some other statistics from the program, as of the end of the third quarter of 2022.
Who has gotten help from the Oklahoma Homeowner Assistance Fund?
h More than half of the 4,183 applicants, 56%, were women.
h Applications had come from all but two of Oklahoma’s 77 counties, Cimarron and Beaver, in the Panhandle, and applications had been approved from 56 counties.
h The application acceptance rate was 60.5%, and 458 mortgage delinquencies were resolved.
h White people had submitted 1,594 applications: 269 were approved, 364 denied, and 50 withdrawn.