"We try our best to keep people in their homes," said Toby Smith, credit and housing counselor for the Homeownership Resource Center, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-certified nonprofit hosting the workshop. "Most of the time it starts when people fall one month behind, that turns into two and pretty soon you have a crisis."

Smith said the number of foreclosures has risen drastically in the Greenville-Spartanburg area and along the coast. While York County has escaped the brunt of the national foreclosure crisis, she said helping people who are behind in payments is the best way to stay ahead of the curve.

"We expect it to spread," she said about the problem. "We're trying to prevent it as much as possible."

Thursday's clinic won't bail anyone out of debt. But Smith says attendees at the mortgage counseling workshop will receive budget counseling to determine how much they can afford and what spending habits can be changed. Then, counselors will help them develop a plan to get caught up on late payments.

In many cases, homeowners and counselors are able to contact the lender and establish a manageable repayment plan on the past due balance or a loan modification that extends the loan and "gives the client a chance to start over," Smith said.

Most homeowners who have already entered the foreclosure process still have options, Smith said. Counselors can often work with lenders to help the owner sell the home before losing the house or to deed the home back to the bank in advance of the foreclosure as a last resort.

For senior citizens in trouble, Smith said a reverse mortgage can help use the home's equity to get caught up on payments. "When you're faced with paying the mortgage or buying prescription drugs, that can be an option," she said.

The federally approved program, based in Charleston, helped more than 500 families save their homes last year. In 2008, the group has a 72 percent success rate at helping troubled homeowners keep their house.

Connie Howard, director of Fort Mill Housing Services, said she has seen an increase in homeowners who are struggling to make their payments. The Fort Mill area, especially, has been hit hard with layoffs -- including Leiner Health Products, Wells Fargo and HSBC -- and has many homes falling in the much-maligned sub-prime mortgage category.

But Howard, who helps educate residents on home ownership, said many owners are hesitant to receive help. Many make appointments for free counseling but reschedule multiple times until their situation becomes desperate, she said.

"Pride is usually the biggest obstacle," she said. But Howard noted that the increase in foreclosures nationally has prompted lenders to work with borrowers longer, a sign of hope for those who have fallen behind.

Smith, who will be coordinating Thursday's workshop, said making a plan, even after only one month of late payments, is the best way to save homes and credit scores.

She warns that homeowners who think they can handle a few months of late payments usually turn to high-interest payday lenders or financial centers, trying to "borrow their way out of debt." Others, she says, ignore the problem, piling up unopened letters until the situation can't be fixed.

"A lot of people are ashamed, believing others will think they're in trouble, so they just ignore the problem. But what's going to happen when the sheriff puts a notice on the door?" Smith warns. "We say, 'Let's stop the hemorraging and start a conversation with the lender.'"

The Homeownership Resource Center will host a free mortgage default counseling workshop to help homeowners who are having trouble paying their mortgage from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Martha Donahue Learning Center, 112 Bozman St., Fort Mill. Pre-registration is required by calling (888) 320-0350 or at the Web site, www.foreclosurehelpforsc.org.