Stop the Bailout: It’s the Foreclosures – Stupid!

(Boston, MA): NACA, the largest homeownership organization in the country, is organizing against this massive taxpayer bailout of the predators that created this financial crisis.  Thousands of people throughout the country are contacting their Congressman and Senators to demand a halt to this bailout and to focus on the foreclosure epidemic.

Congress and the administration must institute a moratorium on foreclosures, stop the interest rate increases, and restructure mortgages by reducing interest rates to achieve an affordable mortgage payment.  NACA has provided the national model for restructuring mortgages based on what the homeowner can afford.  This would be good for everyone from Main Street to Wall Street. 

With the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, our lawmakers and administration are raiding the treasury to reward the perpetrators.  “A trillion dollar bailout is unconscionable.” states Bruce Marks, NACA CEO.  “We are rewarding the companies whose only motivation was greed.  This is truly the moral hazard bearing its ugly head.  Our tax dollars will go to the most problematic companies since they are the ones on the verge of insolvency.  This bailout is encouraging Wall Street’s “best” and “brightest” to bring forward new financial innovations for us to pay for.”

The American people are now being told to trust this administration when they claim that the only solution is for the American taxpayer to purchase these “toxic” mortgages by giving a blank check for $700 Billion to bailout these companies.  We have trusted them before and are still paying the price.  Now Congress is ready to support them on a second request for a blank check. 

NACA is mobilizing people nationwide to hold their political representatives accountable.  People are working far too hard and having too much stress to accept having their taxes used to bailout Wall Street and those connected to these abuses.  The public officials supporting this bailout will have alot of explaining to do starting today. 

Acerca de la Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (www.naca.com)
NACA, a national non-profit, community advocacy and homeownership organization established in 1988, has been the lead organization in the fight to identify, expose, and oppose predatory and exploitive lending practices. NACA was the first to expose Fleet Bank’s lending abuses in 1991, and followed with numerous other campaigns against companies that victimize low and moderate income people pursuing the dream of homeownership.

NACA provides the best purchase product to those who the industry considers “subprime borrowers” -requiring no down payment, no closing costs, no points, no fees, no perfect credit, at below market interest rates – currently 6% (30 year fixed as of 9/19/08). NACA homeowners who the lending industry considers to be “subprime” have excellent payment records and are now considered prime borrowers. NACA has $10 Billion committed to this mortgage program. With almost 40 offices across the country, NACA is providing working people with an unmatched program and a national model for doing mortgage lending the right way.

NACA has established the national model for providing homeowners at risk of foreclosure with long-term solutions through its Programa de ahorro en casa. NACA has committed One Billion dollars to refinance homeowners on the best terms available and is working with some of the nation’s largest lenders to rewrite unaffordable loans based to what the borrower can afford. NACA has negotiated a legal, binding agreement with the country’s largest mortgage servicers including Countrywide Financial and Citigroup, Inc., enabling NACA to restructure their loans into long-term affordable mortgage. Many homeowners have been able to restructure their mortgages with fixed interest rates of 5% or less.

Other major servicers are following the NACA pattern, establishing the NACA solution as the national standard. News of NACA’s program and advocacy has been featured in national and local media. The Boston Globe has chosen Bruce Marks, founder and CEO of NACA, as its 2007 Bostonian of the Year. This is tremendous recognition for the effectiveness of NACA’s advocacy in leading the fight against predatory lenders, and its effectiveness in providing real, affordable homeownership solutions for working people.