February 10 , 2008
KYW News Radio

Local Expert Tells Why Some Face Foreclosures

By Michelle Durham

The number of foreclosures across the country is on the rise and one local expert says the worst is yet to come.

John Dodds, director of The Philadelphia Unemployment Project's Foreclosure Crisis Committee, explains one reason why things are so bad:

"People got mortgages that they didn't quite understand and turned out to be a lot more expensive than they thought. For example, they didn't understand what an adjustable rate mortgage was."

That, coupled with the other foreclosure factors experts are used to seeing: job loss and illness. But Dodds says we haven't seen the worst yet:

"The foreclosure rate is up 15% '07 over '06, sort of the highest number recently. And in '08, it's going to get worse because very high percentages of the sub prime mortgages are going to reset in '08 and '09."   

And that means people struggling to pay their mortgages now, won't be able to afford the payments once their interest rate rises.
 
To learn more, go to www.philaup.org or call the Unemployment Information Center at 215-557-0822.