WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded $716,894 in housing counseling grants to 9 local organizations in New Jersey to help families and individuals with their housing needs and to prevent future foreclosures. HUD’s housing counseling grants and the additional funding they leverage will assist more than 1.4 million households nationwide find housing, make more informed housing choices, or keep their current homes.
“This is a smart investment in helping families find and keep their homes,” said HUD Secretary Ben Carson. “Quite simply, knowledge is power. We know that armed with the information they need, those who receive counseling services are far more successful in buying, renting or avoiding foreclosure.”
“Knowledgeable buyers make better decisions and this federal funding is used to guide families through the purchasing process,” said Lynne Patton, Regional Administrator for New York and New Jersey. “Knowing how much owning a home really costs and what it entails, as well as when and where to ask for help, empowers buyers and renters, resulting in financial stability for their families and the communities in which they live.”
HUD’s housing counseling grant funding supports community-based organizations that assist low- and moderate-income families to improve their housing conditions. Read a comprehensive summary of each grant.
In Cape May County, Consumer Credit and Budget Counseling (D/B/A National Foundation for Debt Management) will receive $135,145.00 for Comprehensive Counseling
Consumer Credit and Budget Counseling (CCBC) d/b/a National Foundation for Debt Management (NFDM) is a highly respected and efficient credit and housing agency with a long-term commitment to building and maintaining homeownership. As a non-profit organized in 1998, CCBC has grown its housing services through providing superior service to its clients. NFDM, a non-profit credit and housing counseling agency, was organized in 1999, has been a national leader in Reverse Mortgage (HECM) counseling. In 2011 CCBC combined with NFDM and now is approved as a Multistate Housing Organization with three branches and an annex in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The combined organization continues to be a national leader in Reverse Mortgage (HECM) counseling with a current emphasis on helping elders maintain homeownership through our HECM Taxes and Insurance foreclosure intervention services.
CCBC/NFDM serves two “Hardest Hit” states with teams of trained and certified default and foreclosure intervention and prevention counselors that provide clients with education, foreclosure and default counseling. A member of the Financial Counseling Association of America (FCAA), formerly AICCCA and accredited by the Council on Accreditation, NFDM offers an online Homebuyer education class that meets the guidelines of the National Industry Standards for Housing Education and Services. www.nfdm.org, , www.cc-bc.com and www.homebuyercert.org.
Counseling improves housing outcomes for homebuyers, homeowners, and renters. Last year, HUD published research findings summarizing the impact of housing counseling has on families’ housing options and choices. In addition, recent research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the Urban Institute continues to find substantial benefits to housing counseling for families who purchase their first homes and those struggling to prevent foreclosure.
Grant recipients address the full range of families’ housing counseling needs. This includes helping homebuyers evaluate their readiness for a home purchase, understand their financing and down payment options, and navigate what can be an extremely confusing and difficult homebuying process. The organization also help households find affordable rental housing and offer financial literacy training to individuals and families struggling to repair credit problems that restrict their housing options.
In addition to providing counseling to homeowners and renters, these organizations assist homeless persons in finding the transitional housing they need to move toward a permanent place to live. Finally, grantees also assist senior citizens seeking reverse mortgages. These agencies provide counseling for the rapidly growing number of elderly homeowners who seek to convert equity in their homes into income that can be used to pay for home improvements, medical costs, and other living expenses.
Housing counseling agencies also support fair housing by assisting borrowers in reviewing their loan documentation, to avoid potential mortgage scams, unreasonably high interest rates, inflated appraisals, unaffordable repayment terms, and other conditions that can result in a loss of equity, increased debt, default, and even foreclosure. Likewise, foreclosure prevention counseling helps homeowners facing delinquency or default employ strategies, including expense reduction, negotiation with lenders and loan servicers, and loss mitigation, to avoid foreclosure.
There are many ways to find a HUD-approved housing counseling agency. Visit HUD’s website or call (800) 569-4287 for our interactive telephone directory. Get the free housing counseling i-phone app from the app store (not yet available for android).
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