http://66.225.205.104/LM20090612.mp3
A couple thousand jobseekers showed up at a non-profit mortgage lender in Charlotte today hoping for one of 550 jobs. For many of them, the mortgage business is nothing new. The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America is a non-profit that provides low-interest loans to homebuyers and helps people avoid foreclosures. The group says it decided to expand in Charlotte partly because there are so many people with financial experience. Plenty of them showed up at the job fair. Jane Roberts was laid off from First Charter, now Fifth Third Bank, last summer. She worked in the bank's mortgage department, auditing loans after they were closed and says she could see herself fitting in at NACA. "They've got some counseling jobs helping people get mortgages and I figure with my background I would be very interested in helping people as well as staying in my field" says Roberts. NACA is known for its opposition to banks that issue high-risk loans. The group has tracked down CEOs at their homes to push them to change their lending practices. NACA's CEO Bruce Marks told jobseekers he knew many of them were coming from companies he's critical of. "So we don't hold it against you that you worked at those banks because we want you to be part of doing it a better way," said Marks. The job fair continues tomorrow at NACA's office in east Charlotte. The group hopes to hire 550 people over the next two weeks and a total of 1,014 over the next five years.