Northern Indiana Legal Services Firm Launches Foreclosure Defense Project

In South Bend, Indiana, the South Bend Tribune reports:

• [W]ith funding from the IFLA [Institute for Foreclosure Legal Assistance(1)], Indiana Legal Services Inc. has launched its new Indiana Foreclosure Legal Assistance Project to provide free legal help to eligible Northern Indiana homeowners who face losing their homes through foreclosure. Indiana Legal Services was awarded a $240,000 grant over three years from IFLA located in Washington, D.C.

• The Indiana not-for-profit organization was one of 27 legal aid offices throughout the country to receive funds from the national competition. "The mortgage foreclosure issue is significant throughout Indiana, but also in northern Indiana and in the general South Bend area," said Ron Gyure, resource development director for Indiana Legal Services.

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• ILS' new project will initially target the South Bend area and northwest Indiana, where there are a high number of subprime mortgages, many of which are predicted to go into default. In the grant's first year, ILS will have two attorneys in its South Bend office and one attorney in its Gary office to perform foreclosure defense work.(2) [...] In the grant's latter stages, ILS expects to expand its foreclosure work into the Fort Wayne area.

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• ILS can provide direct legal representation to homeowners by reviewing their mortgage documents to see whether they include provisions that are abusive or predatory, negotiate new terms with their lenders or take other appropriate legal actions.

For more, see Project to aid homeowners (Indiana Legal Services program in South Bend aims to avoid foreclosures).

(1) The Institute for Foreclosure Legal Assistance, a project of the Center for Responsible Lending and managed by the National Association of Consumer Advocates, made the awards to nonprofit groups that demonstrated that they already had successful foreclosure prevention programs but needed more resources.

(2) The ILS South Bend Regional Office serves clients in St. Joseph, Elkhart, Fulton, Kosciusko, Lagrange, LaPorte, Marshall, Noble, Pulaski and Starke counties. From its Gary office, the ILS legal staff serves Lake, Porter, Jasper and Newton counties.