"In 2008, we'll counsel over 8,000 families in the state of Ohio who are having difficulty paying their mortgage," said Bill Staler of Consumer Credit Counseling Service.

And the calls keep coming.

Consumer Credit Counseling Service recently added a housing help center dedicated to people struggling to keep their homes. While reasons vary, many people are having financial problems because of a job loss or pay cut.

"They might have an option to renegotiate their mortgage, do a repayment plan of some kind, something where they have an option to get out of the predicament they are in," said Staler.

If you get behind in payments, you should immediately contact your lender and find out what type of options are available. If you are more than 60 days behind, it is recommended that you seek professional help from an expert.

"We're still seeing increases in requests for our services, so we haven't peaked yet in the number of problems we're going to have across the state," Staler added.

The level of business is a direct result of Ohio's flailing economy.

A few examples:

•  Whirlpool is temporarily laying off 570 workers at its plant in Marion, that's after they cut 950  workers last week from different plants.
•  The Cleveland Plain Dealer (Ohio's largest newspaper) is cutting more jobs.
•  Cleveland based, National City is phasing out 4,000 jobs over the next three years.
•  Auto worker jobs across the region have been cut or are in danger of being loss.
•  DHL in Wilmington is closing down its shipping hub, with more than 9,000 jobs on the line.

At a job fair in Wilmington, people said they are worried about their future.

"I"m scared at my age who's going to hire me?  I'm 53 years old," said Sandy Carter, an ABX Air Worker.

"I'm going to lose my job here in the near future so I'd like to find something more stable that I can stay until I retire," said another ABX worker, Dawn Spicer.

So the Consumer Credit Counseling Service expects to keep getting calls flooding in from desperate Ohioans.

For more information, you can visit the Consumer Credit Counseling Services.

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