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Janet T. Mills

GOVERNOR

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Anne L. Head, Commissioner

Department of Professional & Financial Regulation

STATE OF MAINE

DSpeRTMTNIT oF PRoFESSIoNAL

AND FINANCIAL REGULATI0N

BUREAU oF coNSUMER CREDIT PRoTECTIoN

35 srATE HousE srATtoN

AUGUSTA, MAINE

04333-0035

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Office of Community Economic Development

U.S. Department of the Treasury

Washington, DC 20220

Re: Maine's Responses to Treasury's Comments on State HAF plan

Dear Treasury HAF Team:

Thank you for providing comments on Maine's draft HAF plan.

Attached please find our written responses to the issues raised. Both this cover letter and the

responses have been uploaded to your site where indicated. In addition, appropriate

modifications have been made to the Plan itself.

We look forward to working with your agency to finalize the state Plan and work with our

network of nonprofit housing agencies to distribute funds on behalf of Maine homeowners

affected by the pandemic.

Sincerely,

Maine Bureau of Consumer Credit protection

Credit Examiner

Susi,

William N. Lund

SUPERINTENDENT

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OFFICES LoCATED AT:

76 NORTHERN AVENUE, GARDINER, MAINE

TTY IISERS CALL MAINE RELAY 71 I

INTERNET: www.Credit.Maine.Gov

PHoNE: (207)624-8521 (y oice) rex: (207)582-7699
State of Maine’s Responses to Treasury Feedback 

HAFP-0054-Maine 

Treasury Feedback for Resubmission of Plan 

Please revise the HAF plan by providing a response to the question(s). 

Homeowner Needs and Community Engagement Data 

• No questions. 

Community Engagement and Public Participation 

• Please provide an update indicating any public comments you have received 

since you submitted your HAF Plan, from which organization you received 

any such comment, and whether you have responded to the comments. 

Maine’s response: Since submitting the HAF Plan to Treasury, the Maine 

Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection has not received any formal public 

comments. However, the agency has received a great deal of input from 

interested parties, including: 

Homeowners: More than 450 homeowners have contacted our agency to 

request information on when the plan will be implemented and what steps 

they must take to apply. We have responded to each message, providing an 

update on progress, and recording their contact information so they can be 

notified when the program goes live. 

Service providers: Many companies have contacted our offices to promote their 

offerings, from software to facilitate the program, to providers of cellular 

telephone numbers and email lists to assist with outreach efforts. We have 

acknowledged all communications, except where the rules for RFPs (requests 

for proposals) have limited our ability to do so during an active bidding period. 

Organizations representing socially disadvantaged homeowners: Several 

groups, including those assisting Indigenous Peoples and those coordinating 

services for recent immigrants, have contacted the agency requesting updates 

and progress reports, which our office has provided. 

Nonprofit housing counseling partners: We have received many individual or 

group communications from entities that will be assisting our office in 

implementing the plan. They are making staffing and training plans based 

on expected demand. 
Utilities and Municipalities: In addition to mortgage delinquencies, we 

propose to assist consumers who are in default on municipal taxes or utility 

payments. For that reason, we have received communications from cities and 

towns requesting updates on progress, as well as from our state’s largest 

utility companies. 

Mortgage Servicers: Individually and through the coordination provided by 

the state housing agency association NCSHA, our office has received 

communications from mortgage lenders and servicers, to determine the 

extent to which formal agreements and procedures will be required to a) 

communicate with each other efficiently; b) facilitate prompt and accurate 

consideration of homeowners’ circumstances; and 3) ensure prompt payment 

to servicers and concomitant credit to consumers’ accounts. 

Ongoing Assessment of Homeowner Need 

• No questions. 

Program Design 

• Please explain how the sources of data listed in the section on Homeowner 

Needs informed the Program Design Elements included in your plan. 

The most important source of data utilized in designing Maine’s plan was 

information derived from our agency’s operation of the State of Maine 

Foreclosure Outreach program since 2009. At the beginning of the foreclosure 

crisis in 2008 and 2009, the Maine legislature amended the state’s foreclosure 

statutes (Maine is a judicial foreclosure state) to require the Bureau of 

Consumer Credit Protection to establish a program to a) receive (on a daily 

basis) the names and addresses of homeowners who had received “notices of 

right to cure default” from their mortgage lenders and servicers; b) mail each 

of those homeowners an informational letter notifying them of the availability 

of loss mitigation options to help resolve mortgage default issues; and c) 

provide, through contracts with HUD-certified housing counseling agencies, 

foreclosure counseling and loss mitigation assistance to homeowners at risk 

of foreclosure. The Bureau staffs a telephone hotline, and pays for the housing 

counseling, so that service is provided without charge to consumers. Maine’s 

legal assistance agency is also under contract with the Bureau, for those 

foreclosure cases in which legal representation is required. 

In 2017, the legislature amended the state’s real property tax lien procedures 

to require municipalities sending out notices of impending tax liens or 

impending tax lien foreclosures to add the name and contact information for 

the Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection to such notices, as well as a 

statement notifying the taxpayer that they could contact the Bureau for 
assistance with their tax issues. The Bureau uses its existing housing 

counselor and legal assistance network to provide counseling and support to 

homeowners regarding such tax issues. 

The Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection also licenses and regulates all 

non-bank mortgage lenders and servicers doing business in Maine. Such 

regulation involves receiving and acting on complaints from homeowners 

regarding the servicing of their mortgages. This oversight is accomplished by 

reviewing records and procedures of the lenders and servicers, dealing with 

servicers or lenders directly or through housing counselors regarding such 

complaints, and resolving complaints through loss mitigation, other agreedupon resolutions, or – when necessary – through administrative hearings and 

orders. 

All the information gained through these different programs informed our 

Plan design, since Bureau staff-members are familiar with the most common 

problems facing Maine homeowners regarding mortgages and property taxes. 

In addition, staff understands the geographical and economic distribution of 

such homeowners; and our employees have worked with lenders, servicers 

and municipalities to address the needs of such homeowners. 

This information enabled our planners to determine the maximum perhousehold benefit amount that would resolve the largest number of 

applications anticipated, as well as the estimated income levels of 

homeowners who will be applying for assistance. 

• Will there be a method in your HAF program, early in the process of engaging 

with a household, to evaluate immediate threats to the housing stability of 

applicants, which may need to be addressed under an expedited or prioritized 

timeline (e.g. HOA liens, tax delinquencies, utility shut off)? 

Yes. Applications for assistance that involve tax liens approaching municipal 

foreclosure, delinquent utility bills resulting in threatened shut-offs, or other 

emergency situations, will be flagged for immediate review, as will any 

application in which a mortgage foreclosure judgment has already been 

issued. Our government agency, and our existing nonprofit counselors 

through the hotline and referral program we have administered for more than 

a decade, are accustomed to this need to identify emergency cases. Our 

agency’s intake forms are universally referred to as “triage forms,” for this 

very reason. 

• Please describe how your program will utilize housing counselors or legal 

services to assist homeowners in evaluating loss mitigation options available 

for their mortgage. Your description should include: 
o whether your program will connect homeowners with housing 

counseling or legal services early in the process. 

Yes – our agency’s program will connect homeowners with housing 

counselors or legal service providers. This is how our agency’s 

foreclosure prevention hotline and referral service has operated for 

more than ten years. We anticipated contracting with a sufficient 

number of nonprofit housing counseling organizations to provide 

coverage throughout our state, which is large geographically. 

Homeowners will be “assigned” to the counselor closest to them, and 

the counselor will assist the consumer with the application process, as 

well as with any required loss mitigation prerequisites. 

o the role housing counseling or legal services providers will play in 

supporting homeowners' efforts at engaging in loss mitigation. 

Many of the housing counselors who will be under contact with the 

Bureau are the same organizations that have been providing loss 

mitigation services on behalf of the Bureau for our existing program. 

They are familiar with the required and available loss mitigation 

programs; they know the servicers and the correct portals to utilize in 

order to reach decision-makers in local and national mortgage lenders 

and servicers; and they are accustomed to working with consumers to 

complete loss mitigation applications. 

• How will your program leverage resources available through a loss mitigation 

process to benefit eligible homeowners and how will your program avoid using 

HAF funds in ways that duplicate relief that available loss mitigation options 

might provide? 

To maximize the impact of HAF funds, it’s important to ensure that 

homeowners first avail themselves of all loss mitigation options. Servicers 

have come to understand this requirement, since that precondition will be 

part of each state’s process, so Maine will work with lenders and servicers to 

ensure that loss mitigation strategies are fully exhausted before providing 

HAF funds to servicers on the homeowner’s behalf. Exceptions may be made 

where homeowners can demonstrate they have recently completed an 

unsuccessful loss mitigation process, or in emergency situations in which a 

delay of any sort would work to the detriment of the homeowner. 

• Please explain what steps, if any, your program will take to assist the 

homeowner in determining whether a HAF-resolution will result in a 

sustainable monthly payment? 

The Bureau will apply standard loss mitigation guidelines, which define an 

affordable payment as one that constitutes 31% or less of a homeowner’s gross 

income. The Bureau and counselors under contract with our agency will also 
review for affordability based on amounts of other monthly payment 

obligations. Housing counselors, who are certified and trained to ensure that 

a resolution is affordable, will also apply their expertise and assistance in 

determining affordability. 

• Are you anticipating increased winter home energy costs and their potential 

impact on the homeowners that HAF will serve? 

Maine is the northeastern-most state in the Lower 48, and our state’s 

residents, and housing counselors advising those residents, have learned to 

factor in the costs of utilities in determining the true cost of living in this 

region. The Bureau will instruct counselors to be mindful that energy costs 

themselves may increase on a per-unit basis, and plan accordingly. 

• Your programs set $25,000 as the maximum amount of assistance per 

homeowner. Please explain how you determined this amount will be 

sufficient to resolve housing-related delinquencies and whether the cap will 

be sufficient in areas with higher housing costs? 

The $25,000 figure was derived from data collected through Maine’s 

foreclosure prevention program. Under the program, mortgage services 

must report certain data to the Bureau, including cure amounts needed to 

bring consumers’ mortgages current. Based on this data, the Bureau 

concluded $25,000 would be sufficient to cure the defaults of approximately 

90% of Maine households that received a “right to cure default” notice 

during the pandemic, inclusive of areas with higher housing costs. 

Eligibility 

• Regarding reverse mortgages, please note that Treasury's updated Sample 

Term Sheets for provides eligibility under the Mortgage Reinstatement 

Program (p.2) for a homeowner that is either in default due to property 

charges or has entered a repayment plan to repay such charges. Please 

consider updating your program eligibility to reflect this provision. 

This suggested change has been incorporated into the Term Sheet. 

• Please provide the rationale for not using a fact-specific proxy as one method 

for establishing eligibility under your plan, including how you determined 

that without such a proxy, your program can avoid unnecessary barriers to 

participation by eligible homeowners. 

As the state’s administrator of Maine’s Fair Credit Reporting Act, our agency 

is the recipient of identity theft complaints from Maine consumer, and for that 

reason we have gained a heightened awareness of the levels of fraud and 
misrepresentation that have accompanied some benefit programs. However, 

that risk is lessened in the case of HAF, since payments will not go directly to 

homeowners but rather will be directed to servicers or others on the 

homeowners’ behalf. Since the primary goal of the program is to apply funds 

where they are needed, the Bureau will consider fact-specific proxies 

(alternative evidence, affidavits or other written assertions and assurances 

from homeowners) in those cases in which other written documentation is not 

available, striving to apply the least restrictive standards that will maintain 

the integrity of the program. 

• Please provide the rationale for excluding from consideration as socially 

disadvantaged the applicants who do not respond to the provided attestation 

regarding race and ethnicity. 

The term “socially disadvantaged” is defined in the HAF Guidance to refer to 

individuals who have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural 

bias because of their identity as a member of a group without regard to their 

individual qualities. Without an applicant’s response to the question about 

race or ethnicity, the Bureau or its housing counselor partners assisting 

homeowners will be challenged to determine that status. We will make efforts 

to discern whether there exist reliable alternate indicators of the status 

without asking applicants to make a self-declaration, and will propose 

modifications to the procedural aspect of the plan if appropriate. 

Outreach 

• Please explain how the program will provide culturally relevant marketing. 

The Bureau plans a broad marketing effort to provide information to eligible 

homeowners. The Bureau has already initiated conversations with specific 

groups, including organizations that provide assistance to Indigenous People, 

and recent immigrants. We plan presentations in different languages, to 

increase inclusiveness. We will also work to make the program known to 

creditors of the homeowners (utility providers, municipalities, and mortgage 

servicers), since those entities will know who among their customers is in 

need of assistance. Finally, we will incorporate an educational element into 

our existing foreclosure prevention hotline, intake and referral service, since 

on a daily basis we receive the names and addresses of Maine residents who 

are in default on their mortgages; we currently mail informational letters to 

those homeowners; and those homeowners include members of all cultures in 

this state. The Bureau will supplement our letter to homeowners to include 

information on Maine’s HAF program. 
Prioritization 

• If your program intends to serve households who are over the 100% AMI 

threshold, how will your program prioritize Socially Disadvantaged 

Individuals? 

The Bureau’s current plan is to establish program limits at 100% of AMI, until 

demand is determined and the payment process is working efficiently. If the 

program has sufficient funding after the initial stage, the Bureau will 

prioritize the applications of Socially Disadvantaged Individuals by ensuring 

that their applications are considered – and payments distributed – ahead of 

others awaiting consideration. 

Performance Goals 

• Please explain how you intend to communicate your progress towards 

performance to the public. 

The Bureau intends to communicate our progress made toward performance 

to the public through presentations, press releases, television, public service 

announcements, webpage information and social media. Reports and updates 

will be provided to lawmakers and to the Governor’s office. The Bureau will 

hold regular meetings with our nonprofit housing counseling partners to 

discern progress and challenges, and publicly communicate the results. 

• Please indicate which three metrics will serve as the best indicators of the 

success of your program. 

The three best indicators will be 1) the number of mortgages reinstated; 2) 

the number of rate reductions obtained; and 3) the number of households 

assisted/foreclosures prevented solely through counseling or legal services 

without payment of HAF funds to resolve the homeowner’s defaults or 

delinquencies. 

• Please indicate whether you intend to disaggregate metrics by income, race, 

gender, etc. 

Yes. 

• Please consider including as an additional metric the number of homeowners 

assisted/foreclosures prevented solely through counseling or legal services 

without payment of HAF funds to resolve the homeowner's defaults or 

delinquencies. 

The Plan has been modified to include that metric. 
Readiness 

• Please provide the most recent available information about your program's 

readiness, including staffing, contractors, development of policies and 

procedures, etc. 

The Bureau’s Request for Proposals (RFP) Evaluation Team is reviewing bids 

from 15 software providers, and the level of experience of the selected provider 

– such as with HAF pilots programs, or HHF, or Rental Assistance – will in 

part determine how quickly the Maine program can be stood up. Nonprofit 

housing counselors and our state’s legal assistance organization are prepared 

to participate, and are awaiting the launch of the program, so specific training 

and staffing decisions can be made. Depending on the software provider 

selected, the state may follow the lead of other states by instituting a “preselection” process so prospective applicant understand whether or not they 

will qualify. The Bureau already maintains constant communications with 

the state’s network of housing counselors and the legal assistance 

organization as a result of the existing foreclosure prevention program, so 

those meetings will focus on development of policies and procedures, to ensure 

that the final program will be offered on a consistent basis regardless of the 

partner-provider. Representatives of groups assisting Socially Disadvantaged 

Individuals will be asked to participate in the development of policies and 

procedures. The Bureau’s current staffing is sufficient to support start-up, 

and additional staff are being hired at this time, to assist with the program 

and provide support for existing staffers who will be assigned to administer 

the program. Municipalities have indicated an ability to participate right 

away, as have utility companies. 

• Is your program prepared to launch upon approval and, if not, by what date 

will you be ready to launch following approval? 

We are targeting January 1, 2022 as a “go-live” date. Before that date, a 

software provider must be selected, that provider must develop a Mainespecific program, policies and procedures must be developed, and outreach 

must be undertaken. 

• Please provide updated information about your progress in spending the 

initial 10% payment from your jurisdiction's full allocation and the status of 

any pilot assistance already offered or made available to homeowners. 

We have not spent funds beyond a small amount to a Maine-based consultant 

with specific experience in loss mitigation programs. Unlike some 

administrators that are housing authorities overseeing their own portfolios of 

mortgages, the Bureau is a regulatory agency, and we did not have the option 

to run a limited-reach program without subjecting our office and the state’s 

non-profits to pressure from those who were not served by the pilot. With the 
existing network of counselors under contract as part of the Bureau’s 

foreclosure prevention program, our agency will not experience the start-up 

costs associated with establishing such a network from the ground up. 

Budget 

• Your plan provides a total budget amount of $3,900,000 for administrative 

expenses, less than the 15% of the total allocation permitted for those 

expenses. Please provide additional information about how you anticipate 

supporting the full administrative needs of this program. 

Since the initial plan was drafted, the Bureau has received additional 

information, and has conducted a preliminary review of 15 bids from 

software providers in response to an RFP (request for proposals). Based on 

that information, the Bureau has adjusted the budget to include $4,900,000 

in administrative expenses over the lifetime of the program. As previously 

noted, the Bureau has staff in place to administer the program, as well as 

relationships with non-profit housing counselor partners, municipalities, 

and mortgage lenders and servicers. These existing resources will reduce 

program start-up costs. To the extent the budget may require further 

adjustment, the Bureau will file amended figures and request Treasury’s 

approval. 

• Your plan indicates a total budget of $5,000,000 for Mortgage Principal 

Reduction but in the list of qualified design elements does not include 

mortgage principal reduction as a qualified program element. Similarly, your 

plan indicates a total budget of $0 for Mortgage Payment Assistance but lists 

it as a qualified program element. To the extent necessary, please correct 

these budget allocations. 

We have made corrections to the Plan based on this comment.