Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America [NACA] review: Something seems fishy 7

My experience with NACA was very poor. I am actually left suspicious of what they are doing behind the scene as opposed to being different from the Banking sector they criticize for being discriminatory and abusive. NACA itself is very non-transparent and unaccountable. They use your information to help others. I learned my account was linked to a person struggling with paying mortgage while in reality I never had any mortgage and was first time home buyer. The customer service was worst and very fishy. A women who called herself Veneka spoke with me and was very rude, condescending and patronizing. Maybe my immigrant accent was enough to have me profiled. My account ID was 2043823 which they linked to a different person or something but very suspicious and not transparent organization! I would not be surprised soon they get sued for being corrupt. Wells Fargo was behaving in similar culture before it got exposed! A call I made to schedule an appointment in few minutes ended up with my account closed because the unhelpful, patronizing, and aggressive customer service was as if I was being a bother. What is sad is that, a program created to help those the banking sector is discriminating against, treats the same community of migrant, black and brown, first time home buyers with challenge accessing the banking system and wealth building opportunity with unhelpful and aggressive manner. My SS number and all my personal information was linked to a profile that is struggling to make mortgage payment when I clearly have never owned a home, why? Something fishy in deed is going on in NACA. I am scheduled to speak with my representative to dig deeper into how much tax payer government subsidization the organization gets, open inquiry into past discriminatory practices and complaints, and get to the bottom of it. There must be accountability somewhere. The Customer service agent who refused to provide her name and went by just Veneka literally said "I know the CEO" or "the CEO knows me" when I asked to escalate the issue and complaint. This is a service payed for through tax payer assistance and not a charity or a private favor but the way they mistreat, delay, and abuse this Gap they were suppose to fill make one wonder if their org culture is that of paternal to the marginalized.

I went thru this...my wife and I have a very exelent income and credit score...we though we could save $ by using NACA but we end up wasting our 6 months of time...stay away from NACA if u have other options.

Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America ("NACA") is a non-profit, community-advocacy and homeownership organization the primary goal of which is to build strong, healthy neighborhoods nationwide through affordable homeownership. NACA pursues this goal by, among other things, providing its primarily low- and moderate-income clients (whom NACA calls "members") with free housing counseling and related services designed to assist members with obtaining or maintaining an affordable mortgage. One such initiative is NACA's Purchase Program, the focus of which is to provide primarily low- and moderate-income individuals and families, who are generally shut out from traditional sources of credit, with access to affordable residential mortgages. NACA's Purchase Program is unique because it offers NACA members the opportunity to obtain a mortgage with extremely favorable terms - that is, low interest rate, thirty-year fixed term, no down payment, no closing costs and no predatory features - regardless of each member's past credit or other financial problems. To participate in the Purchase Program and obtain a NACA mortgage, NACA members are required to undergo NACA's comprehensive Purchase Program counseling process, through which each member participates in numerous counseling sessions with NACA employees and establishes a track-record of financial responsibility - such as budgeting expenses, reducing debt and saving income. The time it takes for qualification varies, sometimes dramatically, based on the individual member's circumstances.

We truly feel sorry for someone who feels the need to lower himself to using personal insults and racial allegations over a file that isn't even his own.

I attended a NACA workshop with my daughter almost 2 years ago. At the time, I really liked what they were doing and my daughter started working with them to qualify for a mortgage. WHAT A MISTAKE! For a year and a half she has been saving and detailing every deposit and expenditure, sending them many, many documents, has had to take off days to go to their officice because the Ditz they assigned us isn't intlligent enough to know how to use technology. Everything she went their for EASILY could have been done electronically and over the phone! After all this time, she was constantly told she woud qualify for around $200k mortgage. When the paperwork finally got submitted and she got an answer...it was for a pitiful $158K! I seriously have to wonder is it because she is WHITE! The councelor is seriously incompetant (and I suspect is autistic, has "tics" and horrible hygene!) NEVER use these people!

The comment "We had to watch every penny that we spent from our savings to cover a payment shock. Peoples' costs can vary from month to month especially during tax time so it was annoying" suggests the real problem here. The NACA qualification process is based on a tight household budget and responsible financial management. The fact that financial discipline was annoying or inconvenient should not be a greater priority than obtaining a solid home with a mortgage that saves tens of thousands of dollars compared to any other loan product.

The fact that all repairs discovered through the inspection are required to be completed by properly licensed tradespeople should be an obvious advantage to the homeowner. There is no accountability for the quality of the workmanship done by unlicensed and uninsured workmen, and the poor quality of the work often results in the work having to be re-done which results in a greater cost in the long run compared to having done properly the first time.

The conflict of interest in "Our real estate agent is a carpenter and he was willing to help us with the work" goes without saying.

What's perhaps most disturbing is the fact that every NACA member is made aware from the very start that all repairs must be performed by properly licensed and insured tradespeople. It is in fact stated very clearly in the Home Buyer's Workbook every NACA member receives at their very first workshop.

The reason the NACA program works is because of its insistence to strict adherence to every detail of the program, and our refusal to take the shortcuts that created the housing bubble to begin with. Nobody ever said the NACA process is fast or easy, but doing things the right way rarely is.

Im going thru the EXACT SAME THING!

I can totally relate to the above comment my husband and I are currently going through the same thing now with the NACA location here in Las Vegas.I keep telling my husband that something don't feel right we just can't place our hand on it.The NACA counselor that we were assigned to talks to us in a very condescending way.We have provided everything that has been asked of us and he is always speaking to us as if we are doing something illegal.(Example) when we make a deposit in to our account without any paper back up he states "where did this money come from how do I know you didn't get it from some illegal side job" as if he's insinuating that we're street pharmacist.My husband and I have two very good jobs and are credit is okay but when going to the seminar it was explained that the credit is not a big issue and let's not bring up our tax return!The majority people at this Las Vegas location are Hispanic and I'm not being racist but I have spoke to several of there Hispanic clients and the counselors have treated them very well with them purchasing a home within 6mon or so...We have been dealing with them for over a year and every time it's something new we need that's holding us back and the only way we figure this out is by driving 35-40min to there office without an appointment to see our counselor cause he doesn't return our phone calls, emails, faxes etc... they treat us like sh**.