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State Foreclosure Mediation Program Gets National Recognition

The U.S. Department of Justice has identified the Nevada Foreclosure Mediation Program as a model for programs across the country. 

The Department of Justice report released in December 2011, highlights the efforts of state mediation programs to find an alternative to foreclosure. 

It started when Nevada Foreclosure Mediation Program Deputy Director, Verise Campbell was invited to the White House in November 2010 to take part in a panel hosted by the Department of Justice's Access to Justice Initiative along with Vice President Biden. 

After that event, the Department of Justice started looking at the success of state mediation programs and best practices. 

Nevada's was said to be helpful to homeowners and developing policies and procedures that should be shared with other states. Planners in Hawaii and Washington have met with officials for Nevada's program to begin implementing programs of their own. 

"As one of the first statewide non-judicial foreclosure mediation programs, we felt it important to develop a model that could easily be duplicated by other programs. As we built our program, we engaged other state programs to glean viable information and to share our successes and challenges," said Deputy Director and Program Manager Verise V. Campbell. "We continue this effort with input from the program's Advisory Committee made up of representatives from homeowners, lenders, trustees, mediators and real estate professionals." 

The state legislature created the Nevada Foreclosure Mediation Program in 2009. From September 2009 to September 2011, 13,813 homeowners took part and 11,674 cases resulted in no foreclosure. 3,868 homeowners kept their homes through loan modification, 2,034 homeowners agreed to other alternatives like a short sale. 

To find out more information about the State of Nevada Foreclosure Mediation Program, please go to www.foreclosuremediationnv.org, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/fmpnv .