Catholic Charities Housing Counseling Program.
Many Catholic Charity locations offer foreclosure prevention counseling and assistance to struggling homeowners. In general, there may be limited financial help but most of the support is a case worker partnering with homeowners in completing mortgage modifications. Services are offered to people of all backgrounds and religions, and the assistance may even be free or offered at minimal cost. Find how to find and get Housing Counseling from Catholic Charities below.
Catholic Charities launched a Housing Counseling Program in the mid 1990s in partnership with a number of banks and lenders, including the Fannie Mae Foundation, Chase, JP Morgan and others. Over the years the program has expanded throughout the country, and today hundreds of Catholic Charity locations are part of the Housing Counseling Network (HCN). They can help homeowners apply for and qualify for mortgage modifications, and the locations offered a multitude of other housing services. Counselors from the centers will do everything in their power to prevent a foreclosure and stop homelessness.
In addition, a network of Catholic Charity locations as well as churches now serve as a National Intermediary for the United States Housing and Urban Development organization. As part of this relationship, CCUSA administers both the Mortgage Scams Assistance Grant as well as offer Mortgage Modifications its network.
Housing services offered by Catholic Charities
Specialists are located on site and focus on housing issues. They are highly trained to provide a number of resources, including mortgage delinquency and reverse mortgage counseling. The Catholic Charities housing counseling sub-agencies are the so called national go to non-profit organizations for services for people facing foreclosure, the homeless and those in danger of homelessness.
One of the major benefits of their programs is that they are filling both a national and local need. It does this as the Housing Counseling Network encompasses a vast geographic area. This puts the various agencies in a position to recognize and support national trends, and at the same time reinforce the numerous national mortgage programs by being knowledgeable about local housing market conditions and state resources.
Catholic Charity locations across the country employ highly trained and diverse staff. They provide homeowners with free advice, information, and direct assistance where needed. They can advise people on local and national mortgage assistance programs, provide phone numbers and contact information on solutions from banks, and also help people apply for and negotiate loan modifications and more.
The housing counselors come from a diverse background. Many locations of these churches offer clients a bi-lingual ability to serve cultural needs, especially within the Hispanic community. Depending on your state and local community, many Catholic charity locations also attempt to reach out to small sub-sections of populations of Vietnamese, Serbo-Croatian, Bantu, etc to offer them foreclosure help. The comprehensive array of housing counseling services is offered throughout their entire service area and all states.
Any families that have concerns, or who need help in reaching goals with regard to their housing needs, should look into these programs. Every day people get free advice from Catholic Charities. Some people are interested in buying their first home, and other clients who are already homeowners may have issues in dealing with mortgage delinquency. Some clients have a need to use the equity in their home to pay debt or to subsidize their living receive counseling. Seniors who want to learn about a reverse mortgage can be supported. And many other resources are offered, including details on loans for paying bills from churches.
Housing counselors from the non-profit will sit down with you and review, confidentially, your personal and financial situation. They will analyze your household financial strengths/weaknesses and review your current home loan terms. After the session is complete a Catholic Charities housing specialist will provide you with suggestions for whatever your need may be, including foreclosure prevention, first time home buying, taking a home equity loan based on your need, reverse mortgages, or even refinancing.
Catholic Charities Foreclosure Prevention Services – If you are behind on paying your mortgage, or if you have already received a foreclosure notice, then get help with the following.
- Review your current loan terms, including interest rates, monthly payment, and obligations.
- Create a budget to free up cash to pay your mortgage.
- A counselor can help you apply for, and assist you, with loan modification application processing.
From time to time mediation or direct negotiation with your servicer may be offered.
- If you are too far behind, and if it is decided that foreclosure is your best or only option, then work with Catholic Charities to find alternate and affordable housing.
Home Buying Programs offered
In addition to the foreclosure help offered, Catholic Charities also strives to help people buy a home, with a particular focus on first time home buyers. Some of the services offered are below. They even have information on loans for low income borrowers as well as other financing options.
- Get advice on improving credit for home ownership as well as managing/reducing debts.
- Receive free financial analysis and get help with developing a saving plan for your closing cost and down payment.
- Most locations offer homebuyer classes and workshops.
- Catholic Charities can also offer the IDA Program for low-income families and many administer a debt management plan (DMP) to lower credit card debts and bills.
Find housing counseling from Catholic Charities
It is never too early to ask for help, or to plan on your housing services needs. You too can get help from the nationwide non-profit Catholic Charity organization. They help single parents, immigrants and anyone who is struggling to pay their mortgage or buy a home.
The bottom line is that the Catholic Charities Housing Counseling Program has proven to be a provider of time sensitive, high quality, low cost or free individualized housing and foreclosure counseling services. There are hundreds of locations nationwide. Click here to find a Catholic Charity location near you.
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