NACA Home Purchase Program Offers Path to Homeownership Without Down Payment or High Credit Score

By Kirsten J. Barnes

If you are looking to purchase your first home, but don’t have any money for a down payment or have questionable credit, the NACA home purchase program is for you. 

The first step is to attend a homebuyer workshop which usually takes place in a large city. You can attend in person or via Zoom by signing up here: https://www.nacalynx.com/naca/workshop/workshopIntro.aspx.

The next meeting closest to Columbus is July 13 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. at Calvary Baptist Church at 1599 Betty Talmadge Avenue in Jonesboro, Ga. 30236; followed by another meeting Aug. 3 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. at The Greater Piney Grove Baptist Church located at 1879 Glenwood Ave SE, Atlanta, Ga. 30316; and a meeting in Albany at Bible Way Missionary Baptist Church at 1200 East 4^th Ave., Albany, Ga. 31705.

There is usually a $25 fee to attend, but that is the first and last fee you pay. Once you attend, you will receive your NACA ID and are then able to start your process. Once you have uploaded all your documents a counselor will be assigned to you to help you through the process.

According to their website NACA or Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, provides more than 30 percent of all the housing counseling in the country and is the most effective in providing affordable long-term homeownership for both homebuyers and homeowners. 

NACA’s transformative mortgage product, counseling services, and character-based underwriting provides a model for how fair mortgage lending can successfully be made a reality for working families and people of color on a large scale. 

Instead of looking at your credit score, NACA will review your bank statements and rental history. For instance, if you have successfully paid $900 each month in rent for the past 24 months, they will agree to help you find a mortgage around that amount. 

They even have a program that helps you turn your Section 8 voucher into a mortgage payment.

These programs are for first-time homeowners only and you must make this home your primary residence. However, they have another program for homeowners to modify their predatory loans with far better terms than those provided even in the prime market.

The program is even assisting the City of Selma in constructing a neighborhood of 28 new prefabricated houses. (https://www.blackbeltnewsnetwork.com/news/selma-celebrates-new-home-delivered-for-planned-affordable-housing-development/article_d30a849a-bfd5-11ee-8f85-d3eeee79701e.html?utm_source=ground.news&utm_medium=referral)

“NACA’s Purchase Program provides comprehensive counseling with the option to access NACA’s Best In America Mortgage with no down payment, no closing costs, no PMI, no fees, and a below-market fixed rate. Lenders have committed $20 Billion so far, including $15 Billion from Bank of America. NACA is the most successful private sector initiative in providing affordable homeownership,” states its website. “NACA has an unprecedented performance track record over more than 30 years with more than 75,000 closed mortgages and a foreclosure rate of 0.00012 (about one-hundredth of one percent) with over 90% of the homeowners being people of color.”

For more information, please visit www.naca.com. The website is also available in Spanish.