- Collaboration between Wells Fargo and NeighborWorks America provides homebuyer education and down payment assistance -
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(BLACK PR WIRE) – SAN FRANCISCO and WASHINGTON, DC — December 19, 2013 — Wells Fargo & Company, America’s largest mortgage lender, and NeighborWorks America, a national nonprofit organization which creates opportunities for people to live in affordable homes and improve their lives, today announced more than 5,000 low- to moderate-income adults have become homeowners with the help of homebuyer education and down-payment assistance offered through LIFT programs.

The LIFT programs, a collaboration between Wells Fargo and NeighborWorks America, are a $180 million multi-market initiative designed to help mortgage-ready buyers through services that include homebuyer education and down-payment assistance. The programs – first launched in February 2012 in Los Angeles and Atlanta – have distributed down payment-assistance grants ranging from $15,000 to $30,000 per homebuyer, depending on the housing market.

Since 2012, the NeighborhoodLIFT® and CityLIFT® programs have provided more than $89 million in down-payment assistance to help 5,024 people buy homes. Another $25 million in down payment assistance is currently reserved for homebuyers on their way to purchasing a home and more than $7 million in down-payment assistance is still available for eligible homebuyers to apply for in LIFT program markets.

Since the inception of the LIFT programs, more than 20,000 potential home buyers have attended homebuyer education events in the following cities: Los Angeles; Atlanta; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Houston; Miami; Tampa; Orlando; Jacksonville; Minneapolis/St. Paul; Philadelphia; Washington, DC; Chicago; Sacramento; Oakland; Baltimore; New York City/New Jersey; the Inland Empire, CA; Cleveland; Memphis, Charlotte; and Portland, Ore. Overall, more than 5,000 people have signed up for homeownership education and counseling through LIFT, putting them closer to their goals of homeownership.

For more information about LIFT programs, go to www.neighborhoodlift.com. For more information about NeighborWorks America, go to www.nw.org.