NACA Save The Home Event

"A Life Changing Experience"
Shared by a member of our blog community

We learned on Wednesday night from someone who had just returned from the Las Vegas event that NACA was having a “Save the Home Event” in Oakland in two days starting Friday the 16th. This was actually in Daly City, California at the Cow Palace. I gathered a couple of family members and friends, rented a 6-passenger van and headed out. We drove from LA Thursday at 11 am the 15th, arriving at 6pm, spent the night in the parking lot camped out in a line that started from the front door that quickly grew around the squared parking lot. We were number 326, 327, and 328 when we entered the line. It quickly grew to 1,000, 1500, 5,000 and on. People continued to arrive all night long. I have no idea how many people were there but it showed that people from all walks of life and race were in search of relief. People had lawn chairs, folding chairs, tents, and ice chests.

The doors were scheduled to open at 9am Friday morning. When the event began, it was like something I had never before experienced. The long line of people were directed through the door, down a long wide corridor that had workers at booths on both sides of the corridor with clipboards that we were to register/sign-in by writing our name, address, phone number and email. As soon as you finished signing in, you were to proceed down the corridor to the orientation rooms that were filled with folding chairs. There were many of these makeshift rooms that held 500 to a room. The dividers to these rooms were huge black curtains. You should have been seated according to your number; we were still 326, 327, & 328. But because some people wrote faster than others and walked faster than others after they registered/signed-in, there were a few people with number 340 and 400 about 3 rows ahead of us and we all said oh well, let it go because we were still in a position to be seen soon because we arrived early enough to be amongst the first. The 45-minute orientation that was presented in our orientation room provided some of the most useful information about cutting everyday expenses. I assume each room was presented with similar information.

At the end of the orientation, we left the rooms in single file headed to the bleachers filling them section by section still keeping your place in line. They called this the holding area. While in the holding area, you had time to write your hardship letter and your budget if you had not already done so, along with filling out a couple of other forms that are inside your booklet that was given to us during the orientation. On the floor of the stadium was the counseling area. We went one by one to fill a desk with a counselor that had two chairs in front of their desk and a computer on each desk. There were numerous desks. The first section went down one by one to fill the seat in front of a counselor. If you had a joint mortgage, you and your co-borrower went to a desk together. If you were the only person on your mortgage, you sat in front of a counselor alone.

In the counseling area, we presented our budget, our hardship letter, and all the documents we brought with us as outlined on the website. Your credit report is pulled up on the computer right in front of you at the counselor’s desk. This will verify your payments to your lender, for your car (s), student loan, and other creditors. In this counseling session is where you will receive the reduced monthly payment that NACA will be negotiating for with your lender. As one person left a counselor’s desk, another person was directed to refill that seat. This continued until everyone was seen.

Then, you will leave the counseling area and go out into another area across the hall where all the lenders were. In this room were many sections labels by hanging signs with the names of the lender printed on the signs. This is where you get your offer which is either going to be exactly what NACA asked for or another renegotiated amount. At any rate, it will be lower than what you were presently paying – that is, if you have shown them that you can pay an affordable monthly mortgage payment. People were getting $600, $700, $1,000 a month reduction in their monthly mortgage payments – to an amount that was affordable and no longer a hardship. The hardship for most was created by the strained economy, high gas prices, layoffs, injuries that caused disabilities; be it temporary or permanent disabilities. Then there were the adjustable loans that many possessed – these created hardships.

The weather was nice. I understand we had just missed the big rain that had ended on Wednesday the 14. It took us 6 hours to drive in and 6 hours to drive home and it was all well worth it. The outcome quickly erased the inconvenience of camping out and sleeping in the parking lot the night before. The event was to last from the 16th to the 20th. Many were helped beyond what we all expected to achieve. At the end of the day, we that were helped can now keep our homes, make our mortgage payments without robbing from peter to pay paul (which is what I personally was doing), we learned many expense reduction methods, and learned that we were not alone.

I walked away with a desire to want to give back, spread the word, and assist in any way I can. I will also be service as a volunteer for NACA.

To find additional information on NACA visit their website at:  https://www.naca.com/index_main.jsp#

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"Each One....Teach One"