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President Bush gave the wrong number when he announced a new plan to help homeowners on Thursday
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US homeowners who could face crippling mortgage payments will have a hard time getting help if they call a telephone number President George W. Bush recommended on Thursday -- he gave them the wrong number.
"I have a message for every homeowner worried about rising mortgage payments: The best you can do for your family is to call 1-800-995-HOPE," Bush said after a White House meeting with administration officials and lenders on a new plan to help.
Unfortunately he was a couple digits off, it is actually 1-888-995-HOPE. That gets you through to the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, a non-profit group which offers free housing counselling for homeowners.
Moments after Bush completed his remarks, a White House aide told reporters the president misspoke and gave the correct number.
Calls by the reporters to the wrong number Bush gave out were met with an engaged tone. A search on the Internet showed it belongs to the Freedom Christian Academy which offers religious-based curriculum for home schooling and is located in Ponder, Texas.
President Bush had announced an agreement to freeze rates on some subprime mortgages. The agreement between the government and the lending industry would freeze rates for five years on some variable rate mortgages and provide assistance to as many as 1.2 million homeowners.
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(Agencies)
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美國那些需要償還巨額抵押貸款的購房者們?nèi)绻螂娫拰で髱椭强傻觅M(fèi)一番周折了，因?yàn)椴际部偨y(tǒng)上周四提供的電話號(hào)碼是錯(cuò)的。
當(dāng)天，布什總統(tǒng)與政府官員和抵押貸款借貸方在白宮召開會(huì)議商討一項(xiàng)旨在救助美國次級(jí)抵押貸款者的新計(jì)劃。布什總統(tǒng)在會(huì)后發(fā)表講話說：“我為每個(gè)擔(dān)心房貸利率上調(diào)的購房者們帶來了好消息。你們只需撥打電話1-800-995-HOPE，就能把福音帶回家。”
可不幸的是，總統(tǒng)先生報(bào)錯(cuò)了兩個(gè)數(shù)字，正確的號(hào)碼應(yīng)該是1-888-995-HOPE。這是“美國住房保護(hù)基金會(huì)”的電話號(hào)碼，該非贏利組織主要為購房者提供免費(fèi)住房咨詢。
布什總統(tǒng)的講話結(jié)束后，白宮立即做出了更正。一名白宮助理告訴記者，總統(tǒng)先生報(bào)錯(cuò)了電話號(hào)碼。
當(dāng)記者試著撥打布什總統(tǒng)提供的那個(gè)號(hào)碼時(shí)，電話一直占線。經(jīng)過網(wǎng)上搜索才發(fā)現(xiàn)，原來這是自由基督教學(xué)會(huì)的咨詢電話號(hào)碼，這個(gè)位于得克薩斯州龐德市的機(jī)構(gòu)主要為家庭自修提供宗教類課程。
當(dāng)天，布什總統(tǒng)宣布了一項(xiàng)凍結(jié)部分次級(jí)抵押貸款利率的計(jì)劃。該項(xiàng)由白宮和抵押貸款借貸方簽訂的協(xié)議規(guī)定，將在未來五年內(nèi)凍結(jié)部分可變利率抵押貸款的利率，幫助120萬名貸款購房者保住“家園”。
（英語點(diǎn)津姍姍編輯）
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