The phone has been ringing off the hook from homeowners facing possible foreclosure. Those folks, and anyone else, are urged to attend a foreclosure prevention workshop June 11 at the Fresno Convention & Entertainment Center.

The workshop is from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the exhibit halls at the center at 848 M. St. in downtown Fresno. The event is free, although parking is $7.

The session offers troubled homeowners an opportunity to meet their mortgage servicer or housing counselors face-to-face in an attempt to understand their options or devise a plan to save their houses.

The workshop is the product of HOPE NOW, an alliance of lenders, counselors, investors and others; The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco; and NeighborWorks America, which helps low-income families find housing.

People who miss the Fresno workshop have another chance from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 13 in Bakersfield. The same groups will hold a workshop at Rabobank Arena, 1001 Truxton Ave. Parking: $5 for the lot or free for curbside, where 900 spots are available.

Participants expect the sessions to be popular as more people default on mortgages, lose their jobs or see property values continue to plunge. "We absolutely have seen a very high demand for default counseling," said Martha Lucey, Pacific region president of ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solution.

The non-profit group has handled 5,000 counseling sessions statewide since January, said Lucey, who is based in Fresno. Her office will have six counselors including three who speak Spanish and two who speak Hmong - at Thursday's workshop.

Homeowners should bring their loan documents and enough household finance information for counselors to prepare a budget. That helps counselors and banks devise a modification plan.

Lucey said the number of modifications has increased under President Obama's Making Home Affordable Plan. She said lenders are more willing to work with borrowers, but also noted that many homeowners don't qualify for modification because their income is too low to meet required ratios or their houses have lost too much value.

Still, the lending industry modified 134,000 mortgages and forged 115,000 repayment plans nationwide in March, the last month for which data is available.