Back in 2005, I did a short post on NACA (Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America). And since that time I have received email after email of people desperately looking for someone to talk to after their horrible experience with the program. The comments on this post are just a fraction of the emails I have received over the years. Here is a short historical account (from Wikipedia) on how this organization was created. Pay close attention to what I bold.
“NACA began in 1988 in Boston as the Union Neighborhood Assistance Corporation (UNAC). Working with Local 26 of the Hotel Workers Union, Marks adopted the union’s activist tactics to confront lenders who were engaged in discriminatory and predatory lending practices, eventually winning and creating the nation’s first housing trust fund for union members and resulting in the first change to the Taft-Hartley Act in more than 30 years.
Marks’ next campaign was a four-and-a-half year battle against second mortgage scams, focusing on Fleet Finance. The campaign resulted in the establishment of an eight-billion dollar community reinvestment program and the funding of a $140 million NACA-administrated mortgage program. The program is often referred to as revolutionary because it features no down payment, no closing costs and no application fees. The program also extends debt ratios for people who do not fit conventional guidelines and can be applied to rehabilitation projects as well through NACA’s HAND (Home And Neighborhood Development) Department.
NACA founder and CEO Bruce Marks has been quoted referring to himself as a “non-violent bank terrorist” and has used confrontational activism as a key element of NACA’s ongoing campaign to make affordable mortgages available to everyone. The organization’s efforts in persuading uncooperative financial executives have included leaking details of one bank executive’s divorce, piling furniture on the front lawn of another executive’s house to symbolize the results of foreclosure and photos of executives from mortgage firms posted on NACA’s website with the word “Predator” emblazoned across the front, sometimes even including their home phone numbers.
On October 30, 2008, 100 NACA protesters sat on the steps of government-backed mortgage finance company Fannie Mae’s headquarters and demanded that the company modify loans to lower interest rates.
Marks’ fervor has led to his arrest on multiple occasions, including during a 2010 Senate Banking Committee hearing as he attempted to bring to light the false promises made by a JP Morgan Chase executive.
News report of Bruce Marks being arrested at Senate Hearing
One reputed story places Marks at the Fulton Country Courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia, attempting to halt the public auction of foreclosed homes. After repeated warnings to leave the courthouse steps, Marks was arrested by a Sherriff’s Deputy and placed in the back of a Sherriff’s Department cruiser. Before closing the door, the deputy is alleged to have said, “Sit here for a few minutes Mr. Marks and I’ll let you go. I have an appointment with one of your counselors on Tuesday.” Marks’ relentless activism has resulted in many influential political allies on both sides of the aisle; most notably former House Banking Committee Chairman Barney Frank.
So here we have an activist program that, thanks to some political maneuvering helped force banks to lower their rates and requirements to people who could not afford these homes in the first place. And based on the tons of emails I have received over the years, they do not give a rip about the people they are supposedly helping.
I’m going to post just a few of those comments here starting with the most recent. If you care to read more, just go back to the original post (link above).
“At least you have a counselor! I got a 6-month forbearance and have submitted all the paperwork to make the modification permanent. My bank rejected the documents as “blurry” — the naca rep had no problem reading them — and now I’ve been left hanging. No one answers the phones at naca, it’s not possible to make a phone appt through the webfile, and no one has responded even though I’ve sent an email to every naca address I’ve got.”
==
“I’ve been a NACA member since June of 2010. I am one of those people that did everything that was asked of me. Clear up credit, fax in updated documents, etc. I do believe that NACA has a great program, but as most of you said the customer service is terrible. I work with the Chicago office and I am now on my 4th counselor and its now June 2011. For months I would be faxing things in and trying to get updates with no follow up or response from my counselor. After sending lots of emails and trying to call my counselor with no luck, I asked to speak to the office manager. Turns out my counselor was fired and they didn’t tell me. The same thing happened two more times. I would do my part and then I would get assigned a new counselor without any notification because my counselors got fired. So I spent months wasting my time trying to get a hold of my counselor that didn’t even work there anymore. So after that happened to me 3 times, I am now with my 4th counselor. I have a meeting with him in 5 days so Im praying he will be able to get be approved quickly. I have already found my dream home and I want to get approved quickly before someone else tries to get the home. I will now be checking and following up on a weekly basis, get things in writing, etc. If I don’t get the service I feel I deserve I will have no choice but to start filing complaints. Iv spent over $200 in membership fees, credit reports, and faxing and nothing has gotten done at all. 4 counselors already and I haven’t even been sent to underwriting. Im optimistic but its not fair that they drag their members through this program the way that they do. Please help NACA.”
====
“I joined NACA in late January of this year and began the program. I was very optimistic at the start. As the months went on, I began to realize my mortgage consultant was not trained in customer service or competant enough to give us the service we expected and deserved. As of today, I am still waiting to close. I have called and emailed with no responses. I have been told ‘their (NACA) hands are tied and we’re waiting on the bank to respond.’ There were many times where my husband and I had given our mortgage consultant documents only to find out weeks later the paperwork was still sitting on her desk and she hadn’t gotten around to uploading them. At this point, I am more than frustrated. Tomorrow I will lose my earnest deposit due to NACA’s inability to close within the 45-day extension they required of us! I asked my mortgage consultant if she was going to pay my earnest monies and got the same ‘i don’t know’ or ‘i don’t care’ response I have received throughout the five months process! I have heard so many excuses I am sick! Also, ‘no down payment, no closing costs, and no credit check’ are lies! My credit has been checked twice at my expense! We are required to pay one months morgage up front, one years home insurance up front, and one years flood insurance up front! Furthermore, I have asked my mortgage consultant to contact a regional manager and have been told she is not responding to her IMs and my mortgage consultant does not have access to a telephone number for the regional director! In this technology driven society, do not tell me you can’t contact your manager for assistance! It’s Ludicrious Bullshit! FYI I have attemped to call their (NACA) complaint hotline 1-888-222-0300 or 1-888-404-6222 and each time get a recorded message with options. Unfortunately for me each number hangs up on you after 2-5 minutes! NACA attempts to fight ‘predatory lending,’ but in alot of ways NACA is just the same as all other lenders; they(NACA) have more people telling you ‘i don’t know!’
BUYER BEWARE!”
===
“We were just told by NACA today ater a year of prepping and a year of loosing out on homes offers, due to our affiliation with NACA that our local office cannot underwrite loans for 3-12 weeks due to “inner office restructuring.” WE ARE 30 DAYS OUT FROM CLOSING I AM FURIOUS. We have opened escrow, paid for inspections and are about to loose it all. I thought we had seen it all in this wacky Vegas market plagued with foreclosures and short sales as our only options, but this takes the cake. My local news will be hearing from me in the morning!”
===
