Tuttle takes the lead in foreclosure crisis

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When Debra Tuttle became the chief mediator for the Milwaukee Foreclosure Mediation Program, she didn’t see a long future ahead.

“We started foreclosure mediation in 2009,” Tuttle said, “and I can tell you that we never imagined that in 2014 there would still be such a significance and need for this service”

In the midst of the foreclosure crisis, the services provided by the Milwaukee Foreclosure Mediation Program — administered by Tuttle’s alma mater, Marquette University Law School — proved valuable for affected parties in the Milwaukee area. As the crisis continued to linger, the need became apparent for such a program statewide.

Developing such a network was no easy task.

“We had to be creative about how to replicate the [Milwaukee Foreclosure] Mediation Program throughout the state,” Tuttle said. “We first brought together stakeholders, people who would be impacted by this kind of a system — lenders, attorneys, the individual servicers, housing counselors — to get their viewpoint about what the working parts of a good process would look like.”

Once a framework was developed, Tuttle helped form the Wisconsin Foreclosure Mediation Network with the support of Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen and the Wisconsin Department of Justice. The state network and the Milwaukee program both operate through Metro Milwaukee Mediation Services Inc.

She then went to work gathering support from circuit court judges throughout the state. From the judges, Tuttle asked that it be required — via court order, judicial directive or local court rule — that homeowners be notified of the availability of mediation services in the case of a foreclosure.

The statewide model of foreclosure mediation improved upon the Milwaukee model with the inclusion of set time frames for the exchange of information as well as the integration of online tools for case management.

“Mediation doesn’t end until you get to an end point,” Tuttle said. “Either yes, your mortgage can be modified and you can stay in your home or no, you don’t qualify and here’s exactly why.”

Although the process of getting members of both sides of a foreclosure proceeding to work together has been daunting, Tuttle said she continues to see improvement.

“I have seen a culture develop over the past four years, of collaboration,” Tuttle said, “in an environment where you would never expect it.”