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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如果要打電話尋求幫助，那可得費一番周折了，因為布什總統上周四提供的電話號碼是錯的。
當天，布什總統與政府官員和抵押貸款借貸方在白宮召開會議商討一項旨在救助美國次級抵押貸款者的新計劃。布什總統在會后發表講話說：“我為每個擔心房貸利率上調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，總統先生報錯了兩個數字，正確的號碼應該是1-888-995-HOPE。這是“美國住房保護基金會”的電話號碼，該非贏利組織主要為購房者提供免費住房咨詢。
布什總統的講話結束后，白宮立即做出了更正。一名白宮助理告訴記者，總統先生報錯了電話號碼。
當記者試著撥打布什總統提供的那個號碼時，電話一直占線。經過網上搜索才發現，原來這是自由基督教學會的咨詢電話號碼，這個位于得克薩斯州龐德市的機構主要為家庭自修提供宗教類課程。
當天，布什總統宣布了一項凍結部分次級抵押貸款利率的計劃。該項由白宮和抵押貸款借貸方簽訂的協議規定，將在未來五年內凍結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”。
（英語點津姍姍編輯）
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