SAN DIEGO & WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) and the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) announced today a new partnership to expand access to financial education and vital credit and housing counseling services specific to the Hispanic community. With tools and counseling available in Spanish, NAHREP’s 50 affiliate chapters and the NFCC’s 92 Member Agencies will collaborate to bring a new level of financial literacy to Latinos during these difficult economic times.
“By teaming up, NAHREP and the NFCC have the opportunity to create positive change in the Hispanic community. Knowledge is power and access to accredited counseling services and financial assistance and education can make a difference for Latino homeowners and homebuyers,” said Carmen Mercado, President of NAHREP.
“Both organizations share a commitment to ensuring that individuals and families have the financial education necessary to make responsible homeownership decisions,” said Susan C. Keating, president and CEO of the NFCC. “The NFCC Members are well-positioned to deliver the individualized counseling services consumers need when approaching the complex home-buying process.”
NFCC Member Agencies will offer housing counseling including pre-purchase, foreclosure prevention, and reverse mortgage in addition to financial counseling to NAHREP clients. Examples of the NFCC’s arsenal of tools available in Spanish which will be used to educate consumers around the home-buying process are the copyrighted Keys to Homeownership pre-purchase home-buying publication, multiple educational housing podcasts, the Avoiding Foreclosure DVD, and the Mortgage Reality CheckSM home ownership online quiz which allows consumers to assess their level of knowledge around buying a home (available at www.MortgageHelpNow.org and www.NoPierdasTuHogar.org).
Through the collaboration, the two organizations will strategically promote information, resources and tools through NAHREP agents who work with the Hispanic community. Additionally, the organizations will also engage in leadership discussion forums around the delivery of financial education and counseling needs evidenced in the Hispanic community.
With studies documenting record losses of wealth in the Latino community due to the foreclosure crisis and resulting decline in homeownership, NAHREP has consistently urged policymakers not to cut vital housing counseling services that have made a notable difference in the level of homeownership sustainability for new homeowners. During Hill visits for the last two years, NAHREP has recommended that housing counseling and financial education tools and services receive increased funding through the annual multicultural real estate policy.
“Latinos will comprise 40 percent of the first-time buyer market,” added Mercado. “Helping them learn what it takes to be sustainable homeowners will help stabilize neighborhoods and benefit local economies.”
“This new relationship with NAHREP will help create positive financial change for individuals, families, and communities, at a time when it is needed most,” continued Keating.
About NFCC
The National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), founded in 1951, is the nation's largest and longest serving national nonprofit credit counseling organization. The NFCC's mission is to promote the national agenda for financially responsible behavior, and build capacity for its members to deliver the highest-quality financial education and counseling services. NFCC Members annually help over three million consumers through close to 800 community-based offices nationwide. Visit the NFCC at www.NFCC.org, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/NFCCDebtAdvice and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NFCCDebtAdvice
About NAHREP
The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, a non-profit 501c6 trade association, is dedicated to increasing the homeownership rate among Latinos by educating and empowering the real estate professionals that serve them. Based in San Diego, NAHREP is the premier trade organization for Hispanics and with 18,000 members in 48 states and 50 affiliate chapters. For more information about NAHREP go to: http://nahrep.org/ on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/nahrep or on Twitter http://twitter.com/NAHREP