Foreclosures

Are you trying to prevent the  foreclosure of your home, and not sure where to go for help?   Here are some legitimate sources of help:

Immediate Help By Phone:

You can always call the Homeowner’s Help Hotline 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to speak to a counselor:

888-995-4673

Local HUD approved Housing Counseling Agencies:

CCCS OF DURHAM – TRIANGLE FAMILY SERVICES

919-821-0790
800-283-6904
Email: lbarber@tfsnc.org
www.tfsnc.org

201 West Main Street
Suite 202G
Durham, North Carolina 27701

- Home Equity Conversion Mortgage Counseling
- Homebuyer Education Programs
- Loss Mitigation
- Marketing and Outreach Initiatives
- Money Debt Management
- Mortgage Delinquency and Default Resolution Counseling
- Postpurchase Counseling
- Prepurchase Counseling
- Renters Assistance
- Services for Homeless
- Spanish

DURHAM AFFORDABLE HOUSING COALITION

919-688-0082
Email: anita@dahc.org
www.dahc.org

400 W Main St., Ste. 408
Durham, North Carolina 27701-3232

- Home Equity Conversion Mortgage Counseling
- Homebuyer Education Programs
- Loss Mitigation
- Marketing and Outreach Initiatives
- Mortgage Delinquency and Default Resolution Counseling
- Postpurchase Counseling
- Predatory Lending
- Prepurchase Counseling
- Renters Assistance
- Spanish

MON VALLEY INITIATIVE NC MINORITY SUPPORT CENTER

919-530-1684
Email: kknox@ncmsc.org
www.ncmsc.org

123 West Main St
P.O. Box 2086
Durham, North Carolina 27702

- Fair Housing Assistance
- Homebuyer Education Programs
- Loss Mitigation
- Marketing and Outreach Initiatives
- Money Debt Management
- Mortgage Delinquency and Default Resolution Counseling
- Postpurchase Counseling
- Predatory Lending

Websites:

NC Foreclosure Help

This website from the North Carolina Commissioner of Banks offers advice on what you can do to prevent foreclosure in North Carolina as well as places to complain if you have been mistreated by a lender, broker or loan officer.

Federal Reserve Board: Resources for Consumers

Links to HUD programs, legitimate credit counseling agencies, advice, and how to handle your taxes if you have lost your home.

If You Are a Victim of a Foreclosure Scam

Call the North Carolina Attorney’s General Hotline:

1-877-5-NO-SCAM

If You Need to Find an Attorney

NC Lawyer Referral Service:

1-800-662-7660

How-to Guides

This past month we have been highlighting access to Consumers Reports on our website. We have had a whole lot of interest! However, did you also know that we have a how-to guide for using this resource? We actually have numerous how-to guides on using our databases – Go to our Research Page and scroll down to see a list of them.

To see ALL the online resources we offer checkout our Complete List of Online Resources page. If there is a how-to guide available you will see a link. If you would like us to create a new how-to guide for a resource you are interested in, just let us know.

We will be highlighting different online resources throughout the year, but don’t wait, check them out now! — Jill

Need Homework Help?

School is back in session again, and so is the endless litany of homework assignments, but the library has many services to help you or your child both in the library and from home.  Besides the books you can check out from the library, you can also access many of the library’s magazines, newspapers, reference books and more from your home computer.  The Homework Help page is a good place to see which library databases are good for which type of homework assignment.  If you don’t see what you need, please call your local branch and we will be happy to help you find it.

“What is a database?” you may ask, and “Why would I do that instead of just going to Google?”  A database is a collection of reference books, magazines, journals, sound and/or video that either the state library or Durham County Library pays for.  You use either the NC Live password or your Durham County Library card number to log in to these databases.  The information available in these databases is usually information which belongs to the authors and/or publishers who want to profit from there work and will not make it available for free on the general internet.  For example, if you go to Consumer Reports’ website from a Google search, you will not be able to look at an article unless you pay for it.  If you go to Consumer Reports through NC Live, you can look up any article you want from 1991 to today’s current issue just as it is displayed in the magazine because the library pays for it. Nifty, isn’t it?

If you need either tutoring or someone to actually help you with homework, go to our online program calendar, click Search, and type “homework help” in the search box, you will see all the different homework and tutoring programs at the different library branches.  Be sure to read the description and make sure that the session you want is for your age group and whether or not you must preregister.

-Kathy

Learn a Language at Your Library

The library has lots of services to help you learn a new language both from home and inside the library. Here are a few:

Tell Me More is one of Durham County Library’s newest online databases. Tell Me More teaches Dutch, English, French, Italian, German and Spanish (Spain and Latin America). Practice reading, writing, listening and speaking for beginning through advanced users. Learn everyday and/or business vocabulary. You will need your library card number to log in. There are detailed instructions if you need them.

NetLibrary is an NCLive Database which contains ebooks and eaudiobooks. It includes the Pimsleur Language Learning series as downloadable audiobooks which you can play on your computer or mp3 player. There are forty different languages available as well as many audiobooks for those who are learning English as second language and would like instruction in their native language. Call your local Durham County Library branch if you need the NCLive password or need additional help using NetLibrary.

The Library’s Catalog also has many books, audiobooks and some videos to learn another language. If you go to the catalog and choose the Subject Keyword search, type the name of your language followed by the word language and self instruction.

For example: spanish language self instruction would list records for items that teach you Spanish.

Once you click on the title, you will see which locations own the item and whether or not it is checked in. If you are at home and the item(s) you want is on the shelf, please call your local library to reserve the copy for quick pickup. If the item you want is checked out or you would like it to go to another location, click on Request First Available Copy to have the item sent to the branch of your choice. You will get a phone call or email when it is ready for pick up.

English as a Second Language classes are available for free at many branches. Check the events calendar to see what is available at your branch or call Judy at 560-0157 for more information.

Please leave any questions you have as comments to this post. – Kathy

Auto Repair Reference Center

Durham County Library has a new database! Auto Repair Reference Center contains repair procedures, service bulletins, service recalls, wiring diagrams, labor and quick tips for cars produced between 1945 and 2007 from the former publisher of Chilton.

Content includes:
• More than 31,660 vehicles, from 1945 to present
• Over 205,000 drawings and step-by-step photographs
• Approximately 75,000 technical service bulletins & recalls
• Over 130,000 enhanced wiring diagrams for easy viewing and printing
• Specifications & maintenance schedules
• Labor Time Guide & Estimator
• AutoIQ
• Quick Tips – a complete guide to vehicle ownership & maintenance

Please leave comments to this post with your questions. – Kathy

Taxes

It’s that time of year. While no one at the library can give you any advice on how to fill out your forms or which forms to use, we can direct you to information about taxes, and services to help you fill out your forms.

Forms

Federal income tax forms and instructions are available from the IRS website. If you have trouble navigating the IRS website, you can also go to Google and type in: site:www.irs.gov followed by the number of the form and the year for which you are filing. For example, say I want to find 1040A for the year 2007; I would type:
site:www.irs.gov 1040A 2007
and click the search button.

For individual income tax forms and instructions for North Carolina, go to the North Carolina Department of Revenue’s website.

You can also come into the Durham County Main Library at 300 N. Roxboro Rd. in downtown Durham to pick up paper copies of the most common federal and state income tax forms.

Rebate

You’re eligible to receive an economic stimulus payment in May if you have a valid Social Security Number (SSN), can’t be claimed as a dependent on a tax return and have either an income tax liability or “qualifying income” of at least $3,000. Retirees, disabled veterans and low-wage workers who usually are exempt from filing a tax return must file a tax return this year in order to receive an economic stimulus payment in May. Package 1040A-3 is the informational package available from the IRS for those who would not ordinarily file taxes, and are filing this year only for the stimulus rebate. There are paper copies available from the 2nd floor of the Main Library at 300 N. Roxboro Rd. in downtown Durham. For other questions about the stimulus rebate, please refer to the Economic Stimulus Payments Information Center. There is also an economic stimulus payment calculator available if you would like to see an estimate of how much your payment would be.

Pagos de Estímulo Económico: Conozca sobre los pagos del estímulo económico, a cuanto ascienden los pagos y cuando estos se enviaran a los contribuyentes.

Tax Preparation

If your adjusted gross income was less than $54,000 for the year 2007, you can file your taxes online for free using Free File. You can also file for free if you do not ordinarily file taxes, but must file this year to claim the stimulus payment rebate.
Si su Ingreso Bruto Ajustado fue menos de $54,000 en el año 2007, usted puede utilizar Free-File para preparar su declaración de impuestos y presentarla electrónicamente.

Free, in person tax preparation is available at different locations around Durham from VITA for low to moderate income individuals (generally $40,000 and below) who cannot prepare their own returns. Call 560-0110 for more information.