Question: Does [Name of Program] accept your certificate?

This question comes up fairly often from someone who is doing a  particular mortgage program, a down payment assistance program, or some other affordable housing opportunity. For two of the programs I can give an unequivocal “yes”. Our certificate is given through our approval with Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association(CHAPA), a non-profit umbrella organization for affordable housing and community development activities in Massachusetts. The certificate we award to participants who complete the workshop is definitely accepted for mortgages with Mass Housing and with Massachusetts Housing Partnership. 

For anything else, like a down payment  assistance program, I am reasonably sure that our certificate is precisely what the buyer is supposed to get. Here is the thing, though. I cannot answer for someone else. I always suggest to the buyer that they check with [Name of Program] to see if they do in fact accept our certificate. 

Just as you might not want to check with your credit card company to see if a certain store would take a particular card, it is best to check with the entity making the decision. In that case, you would check with the store itself. At best I can only tell someone I expect that program to accept our certificate, but to find out for sure, it is best to check directly with the program.