Mortgage-aid hotline beefed up

Owners seeking solutions to their mortgage problems, including how to keep their homes, now have more phone counselors at their disposal, at a time when foreclosures have more than doubled the record set in 1996.

The Homeownership Preservation Foundation, a national nonprofit counseling organization whose mission is preserving homeownership, has added five new agencies consisting of more than 200 counselors to field calls.

The free hotline – (888) 995-4673 – serves about 4,500 homeowners daily. Counseling sessions last about an hour; during peak times, 450 counselors are available to help troubled homeowners avoid foreclosure.

Among the new foreclosure-prevention agencies working with the foundation is Los Angeles-based ByDesign Financial Solutions, a nonprofit that offers budget and credit counseling, housing support and solutions to bankruptcy.

Staffers at the organization, along with those at all the agencies collaborating with the foundation, have undergone extensive training in interacting with homeowners. The agencies are certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

diane.wedner@latimes.com