U.S. Congressman Steve Israel recently joined officials from Freddie Mac and the Long Island Housing Partnership to launch Don't Borrow Trouble - an award winning consumer awareness campaign designed to help Nassau and Suffolk County residents spot and avoid unscrupulous lending practices and get practical financial and legal advice through the new Long Island Don't Borrow Trouble hotline. The Don't Borrow Trouble hotline number is 1-800-528-8683.

Congressman Israel said, "Homeownership is the American dream, but it can quickly become a nightmare for families who find themselves holding a high cost mortgage that they can't afford. This educational program is an effective means to combat that problem and provide Long Island families with the tools they need to achieve and maintain homeownership."

The Long Island Housing Partnership reports that there are thousands of mortgage delinquencies every year in Suffolk and Nassau Counties as a result of predatory lending practices, such as excessive fees and other equity stripping schemes, targeting senior citizens and minority residents.

Don't Borrow Trouble is designed to help Long Island's consumers spot and avoid such schemes by combining an original outreach campaign through churches, civic associations and other community-based organizations with a comprehensive consumer action network of attorneys, lenders, and 24 community agencies across Long Island. Launched by Freddie Mac in 32 communities over the past three years, Don't Borrow Trouble continually helps consumers across the nation to avoid scams and resolve financial difficulties in an informed and prudent manner.

"Don't Borrow Trouble is Long Island's new, one-stop gateway to conscientious lending and reliable information about predatory lending," said Craig Nickerson, vice president of Community Development Lending at Freddie Mac. "Don't Borrow Trouble has a four year track record of proven success in communities all across America. We're delighted to join Congressman Israel and the Long Island Housing Partnership for the opportunity to make it work for Long Island's residents."

Don't Borrow Trouble is the latest Freddie Mac effort to expand responsible homeownership opportunities in the Long Island area. Over the past five years, Freddie Mac has invested nearly $18 billion in mortgages, making affordable homeownership possible for an estimated 111,000 Long Island families.

"Long Island needs Freddie Mac's Don't Borrow Trouble initiative. The skyrocketing cost of homes coupled with the intense desire for homeownership provides fertile ground for unscrupulous lenders. Don't Borrow Trouble educates would-be home owners to the dangers of high-cost loans and provides methods to free home owners from such loans," said Jim Morgo, president of the Long Island Housing Partnership.

Freddie Mac has joined forces with the Long Island Housing Partnership for the Don't Borrow Trouble campaign because of the LIHP's established success at providing counseling to Nassau and Suffolk County residents facing mortgage delinquencies or other difficulties involving home financing, home improvement, and money management. The Long Island Housing Partnership was the nation's first private, not-for-profit public/private affordable housing development organization based solely in the suburbs. It consists of 150 members from Long Island's business, educational, religious, labor and educational sectors.

In addition to Don't Borrow Trouble, Freddie Mac has taken a leadership role in fostering industry policies that protect borrowers from predatory-lending practices. Freddie Mac was the first major mortgage investor to ban the purchase of mortgages with mandatory arbitration clauses that prohibit a borrower's right to sue, as well as bans on prepayment penalties in excess of three years and single-premium credit insurance policies. Freddie Mac also requires subprime lenders to accurately and fully report monthly borrower credit files to credit repositories so families can benefit from their good payment histories.

Pioneered in Boston by Mayor Thomas M. Menino and the Massachusetts Community & Banking Council, Don't Borrow Trouble is being expanded nationally by Freddie Mac. The campaign has received an award for excellence by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.