MARIETTA - The Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta is now hiring employees for a new, 26,000-square-foot counseling office in the Cumberland-Galleria area, focused on foreclosure prevention.

Despite its name, CCCS of Greater Atlanta is a nationwide financial counseling agency that has its headquarters in downtown Atlanta. Its office at Interstate North Office Park, near the intersection of Interstates 75 and 285, is scheduled to open in December with more than 100 employees - including 80 housing counselors and 20 phone customer service representatives.

It will be the agency's second Cobb office, the 21st office in the country and its largest 24-hour, seven days a week counseling operation, offering free advice via telephone and the Internet. However, unlike many of its others, the Cumberland office will concentrate on foreclosure problems. The new office will increase the agency's overall counseling staff to 245.

"We needed a location that offered both a talented pool of workers and easy access for our employees to get to their jobs," CCCS President Suzanne Boas said in a statement. "Interstate North offers our employees great access by car and also has convenient mass transit options."

The expansion was made possible by a $2 million grant the agency received from the Ford Foundation.

In Georgia, the number of homeowners facing foreclosures has increased by 277 percent since 2006, according to CCCS. In 2006, between January and August, there were 1,300 people facing foreclosure. In 2007 during that same period, there were 3,169, and 5,210 during that time period in 2008.

"We are seeing the average client change as foreclosures affect more and more people," said Michelle Jones, vice president of counseling at CCCS. Nationwide, she said the average age of a homeowner facing foreclosure has risen by one year to 44, and that their average income is now $40,299, up from $39,846 in 2007.

"We're seeing more high-income families struggling with mortgage issues," she said.

Two years ago, the "hotspots" for foreclosures in metro Atlanta were in Fulton and DeKalb counties, Jones said. Since then, she said there has been a gradual spread of foreclosures inside and around I-285.

"Cobb has certainly felt its share of that," said Jones.

Housing counselors are the agency's frontline support for helping people struggling to avoid foreclosure. The agency estimates its housing counselors will conduct more than 60,000 counseling sessions nationwide in 2008 - up 200 percent from 2007 - offering expertise in foreclosure prevention, reverse mortgages and resolving credit card or medical bill debt for homeowners.

Jones said roughly 10 percent of counselors will be fluent in Spanish.

She said the agency plans to have 200 counselors at the Cumberland office eventually.

Services from the CCCS of Greater Atlanta at offices in metro Atlanta and north Georgia is available by calling 1-800-251-2227 or going online at www.cccsinc.org.

Housing counselors at the Cumberland office will join the agency's other foreclosure prevention specialists answering calls from the HOPE hotline, a national toll-free service. Any person in the U.S. who needs free counseling to avoid foreclosure can call the number 24 hours a day. The telephone number is 1-888-995-HOPE.

mhoward@mdjonline.com

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