A Helping Hand for Harried Homeowners

The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America is doing something that should have been done a long time ago.

Beginning this Saturday, the nonprofit housing advocacy organization will host a free, five-day "Save the Dream of Homeownership" event here in Washington where people can get immediate help restructuring their troubled mortgage loans.

Homeowners won't have to wait weeks for a callback from their loan servicers. They won't have to fret and fuss -- and in some cases cuss -- to get a mortgage servicing company to listen to their pleas to save their homes from foreclosure.

"We'll be able to provide real solutions," said Bruce Marks, NACA's chief executive.

More than 300 NACA counselors, certified by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, will be at the Capital Hilton hotel to provide same-day, affordable mortgage restructurings that may include reduced interest rates and/or reduced loan balances.

Marks said he expects more than 5,000 homeowners, some of whom may drive eight hours or more from Ohio, Massachusetts and other Eastern states. The event is open to people who own and occupy their homes.

NACA estimates a counseling session will take about two hours. Appointments are encouraged, but walk-ins will also be helped. For those with troubled mortgages who cannot get to Washington, help is still available. Homeowners can call 888-302-6222 during the event to speak to a counselor, although those sessions will not provide an immediate restructuring solution. For more information, go to http://Naca.com.

To make the fast-track restructuring program work, NACA has gotten agreements with major mortgage loan servicers, including Citigroup and Countrywide (now owned by Bank of America).

"Citi is moving aggressively to help distressed borrowers maintain homeownership," spokesman Mark Rodgers said. "It's important for us to engage as quickly as possible with distressed borrowers to work on solutions. Citi signed an agreement with NACA this year to reduce the interest rates and/or the principal balance on certain eligible mortgages of distressed borrowers we service to make them affordable over the long-term. And through its program, NACA puts us in touch with some borrowers we might be unable to reach otherwise."

Here's what makes this event unprecedented: If loan servicers refuse to work out a restructuring, NACA is going to take the rejected homeowners to Capitol Hill and complain to their congressional representatives.

"Our frustration has been that some of these servicers have not done what we need them to do," Marks said.

I love this aggressive strategy. For months, many financial institutions have said they are working hard to keep people in their homes. And yet the number of foreclosures keeps rising. Some reports indicate that not enough people are being helped by the mortgage workout plans endorsed by the Bush administration.