The Illinois Attorney General’s grant for foreclosure mediation has so far resulted in five programs with five different service delivery models. This has had me, as evaluator of the programs, anxious to find out how the differences will affect program outcomes. Having just completed the first statistical report for the foreclosure mediation programs, my initial impression is that program model really does matter when it comes to many performance measures. (more…)
Archive for the ‘ARCHIVE’ Category
Different Program Models Beginning to Show Different Strengths
Jennifer Shack, August 4th, 2014Authorities Crack Down on Foreclosure Rescue Scams with “Operation Mis-Modification”
Just Court ADR, July 30th, 2014Recently, the foreclosure mediation team at RSI has been thinking a lot about foreclosure scams and mortgage modification fraud. Now that we’ve launched foreclosure mediation programs in Lake, Kane and Winnebago Counties here in Illinois, we’ve been focusing on how to provide quality housing counseling and mediation services and get the word out to the public that these services exist. The problem is, it can be difficult to get our message out about the free, high-quality, court-sponsored programs we offer when homeowners in foreclosure are often bombarded with offers for foreclosure help from less than reputable sources. Foreclosure scammers are often very savvy about how to target vulnerable populations, making it difficult for the average homeowner to distinguish these offers from legitimate, government-sponsored programs. As the RSI foreclosure mediation team works with homeowners and conducts outreach, we have seen the devastating effects of these scams first-hand. We are working with the courts to provide better information to homeowners in the form of websites and brochures that offer resources about what to look out for and how to report incidents of fraud.
Last Wednesday there was an exciting development in the effort to crack down on foreclosure scams, with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission and the attorneys general of 15 states, including Illinois, suing alleged mortgage foreclosure scammers in what is being called “Operation Mis-Modification.” (more…)
When It Comes to Mediation, Less Regulation May Be More
Jennifer Shack, June 16th, 2014You’re a judge charged with overseeing a voluntary civil case mediation program in your court. Because you’ve been monitoring your program, you know that, though 75% of cases going through mediation are reaching agreement, the program isn’t doing much to reduce judges’ workloads because mediation generally occurs very late in the case. What do you do?
You have at least three options: (more…)
Resolution System Institute’s Evening of Firsts
Susan M. Yates, June 2nd, 2014
Susan Yates and Judge Morton Denlow listen to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan
Last Wednesday was a great evening for RSI! We held our first-ever “friendraising” event and presented our first-ever RSI Appreciation Award. Our generous friends at the Chicago office of the Skadden Arps law firm kindly hosted a beautiful reception for about 60 people. This was our first reception designed to introduce RSI to new friends in the Chicago corporate and legal world. Attendees included lawyers from some of Chicago’s largest corporations and law firms, judges from the counties where RSI conducts foreclosure mediation programs, and RSI’s own Board and staff members, with a sprinkling of local neutrals, funders and others. The two highlights of the program were remarks by the Illinois Attorney General and the presentation of the RSI Appreciation Award. (more…)
