Purchasing a Home with NACA: Our Story

At 26 years old, my husband and I found ourselves yearning to own our home. With our two young children in tow, we would eagerly visit decorated model homes on the weekends, only to leave disappointed and hopeless at times. We had previously tried to get approved for a home loan and the lender's final answer was always the same: No. Why did they turn us down? Our credit scores were simply not high enough to be approved for a loan.

After exhausting all other options and considering giving up on the dream of home ownership, we were told about a program called NACA. NACA stands for Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America. With NACA, anyone should be able to get approved for a mortgage. NACA is very much against predatory lending and offers the best interest rates that I've ever seen. After looking at the company website, www.naca.com , this program just sounded to good to be true.

Hesitantly, we went to the first informational seminar on October 19, 2008, thinking it would end the same way that our prior attempts at home ownership had. After an informative seminar, including current NACA member testimonials, my husband and I decided that the NACA program was something that we wanted to look deeper into. We scheduled our first meeting with a mortgage consultant in the Raleigh, NC office after this initial information session that each prospective member is required to attend.

After our first visit with the Raleigh NACA office on November 3, 2008, we were beyond excited because this program was going to enable us to become something we never thought we would be: homewoners. Our mortgage consultant laid down the foundation, explaining the entire process of the program and telling us exactly what we needed to do to complete the purchase program. We were told that if we followed her steps, we would become homeowners.

From that moment on, we would be on a roller coaster ride, with a multitude of ups and downs. We had to gather pay stubs, bank statements, alternative credit letters from the utility companies, gym, cell phone company and our car insurance agency. We were instructed to begin paying certain lines of credit off as well as, building our savings account up with necessary funds that would be required at closing. Each month we had to save "payment shock", which is simply the difference of your current rent vs. what your expected mortgage will be. NACA wants to be certain that you are comfortable paying an increased amount each month for your mortgage and that you won't have to cover your windows with sheets or eat at your neighbor's each night! Every month, we had to send current pay stubs and a new bank statement. In addition, we had to also fax over proof of credit lines that we were in the process of paying off.

While the mortgage consultant was helpful, she wasn't proactive at moving our file forward. I would call her several times, leaving messages each time, and would never receive a call back. Email rarely yielded any results. There were times that we would submit requested paperwork, only to be told that it was never received or it had been "lost". There were times that the mortgage consultant would tell us that she was sending our file to underwriting, though it never should have been sent because it wasn't ready. After being in the program for several months and not moving forward, we requested that our file be moved to the Charlotte, NC location. We were given a new counselor who would turn out to be helpful in the beginning, but just as forgetful and negligent as our original counselor in Raleigh. Again, our file was transferred to another mortgage counselor within the Charlotte location and she was absolutely wonderful. Every ohone message I left for her, she returned. Each email I sent, she responded within a fair amount of time. At this time, we finally began making progress with our file.

After underwriting told us how much of a monthly mortgage payment we would be approved for, we were given permission to begin our housing search and write a contract on a home when we felt it was the right itme. We chose to purchase our home through Eastwood Homes. With the help of Eastwood, we were able to get the price of our home to an acceptable amount. Eastwood generously gave us enough money to buy our rate down from 4.25% to 0.25%. YES, we have a zero point two five percent interest rate.

In May of 2009, we were approved by underwriting and could do a final bank application, which was submitted on June 4, 2009 after a series of errors within their computer system. We closed on our home with NACA on June 25, 2009 with a 0.25% interest rate, fixed for 30 years.

If you are looking for a home loan and have been turned down elsewhere, or you would like the opportunity to buy your interest rate down, I would urge to consider NACA. However, to make the program work for you, you have to be willing to work the program. It takes time, patience and determination.