The number of struggling homeowners saved from foreclosure by the Hope Now coalition jumped up 12 percent to 212,000 in September from the previous month, a record high for the group.

“There’s a lot of help being offered and a lot of people actively seeking help,” said Faith Schwartz, director of Hope Now.

Hope Now represents a cooperative effort of mortgage lenders, investors and homeownership counselors, organized by the Bush administration, to combat waves of devastating foreclosures around the country.  Since the middle of 2007, the group has helped almost 2.5 million homeowners avoid foreclosure.

Hope Now has mainly concentrated on creating repayment plans for borrowers, which allow homeowners to make up their overdue balances by spreading them out and adding them to future mortgage payments.  There are plenty of critics of this strategy, however, who say this does not significantly reduce the burden on borrowers or make it easier for them to make their monthly payments.

Perhaps because of such critics, the coalition has increased its application of mortgage modifications, plans that permanently lower the interest rate or write down the loan balance or make some other change to the mortgage terms to make the payments more affordable.

Hope Now has readily admitted that it will not be able to save all homeowners from losing their homes.  It reported that there were still 85,793 cases of final foreclosure in September, and RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure data company, found that there were 265,968 new foreclosure filings in the same month.

“This is an emotional issue for homeowners,” Schwartz said, “and our job is to help them not lose heart, help them to stay engaged and realize there is help out there.”

“This is a very challenging time for many homeowners,” she added. “HOPE NOW members are continuing to explore new ways to help more homeowners avoid foreclosure and will keep looking for additional options. We urge concerned homeowners to call their servicer, Homeowner’s HOPE(TM) Hotline, or a HUD-certified counseling agency to get the help the need.”