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Winning Essays Earn Mortgage Payments from ING Direct

by Jay Hammond on December 26, 2008

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ING has been building considerable goodwill among struggling homeowners this holiday season. First they suspended evictions from single family homes through January 15, 2009 and halted foreclosure sales through March 2009. Now, 500 lucky winners of the company’s essay contest will have a portion of their mortgage debt forgiven.

?We hope this foreclosure suspension will provide some relief during the holidays to those experiencing financial hardships,? ING Direct CEO Arkadi Kuhlman said.

The suspension could make a world of difference to about 250 of ING Direct’s customers with seriously delinquent mortgages. So will winning the essay contest. Homeowners currently in the foreclosure process were not eligible for the essay contest.

More than 5,500 homeowner submitted 250-word essays for the chance to win a mortgage payment, according to the Associated Press (AP). From those entries, 500 winners, those with the most compelling stories, were selected. ING Direct forgave an average of $1,700 of mortgage debt per winning household. A total of more than $860,000 in January mortgage payments were forgiven.

ING Direct is the operating for ING bank, fsb., the nation’s largest direct bank. Headquartered in Wilmington, DE, the company recently acquired ShareBuilder in their continuing effort to meet the financial services needs of Main Street America. More than 7 million Americans have entrusted their savings to ING Direct since 2000.

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  • The essay contest is a fabulous idea. It makes the personal stories of the homeowners real and compelling, and allows the company to make decisions to help based on the most dire situations. Hopefully the contest will run again and will be open for others to enter at a later date. The stories could be an inspiration to others going through the same situation - the point being not to give up hope, that some companies are still willing to work with homeowners to find viable solutions.
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