Turning to your employer to avoid foreclosure

As housing foreclosures across the country continue to rise, a small, but growing, number of homeowners are turning to their employers for help.

And, though this may be surprising depending on where you work, some employers are stepping up to help their workers avoid losing their homes.

Repoter Sarah Needleman wrote about this for the Wall Street Journal. You can read her interesting story here. In it, she writes about a woman who nearly lost her single-family home in Miami to foreclosure. But her employer loaned the woman $5,000 interest free, allowing her to catch up on her mortgage payments.

Fannie Mae, which, of course, is in the mortgage-loan business, earlier this year set up a confidential e-mail hotline for any of its employees who are struggling to make their mortgage payments. Other companies have begun running free onsite seminars designed to help their employees better manage their money.

This is all good news. Companies should take care of their employees. After all, without their employees, where would these companies be?