Several people received assistance Thursday when the Freddie MacHomeHelp Express rolled through Monticello.

Project Coordinator Brandi Lassabe, of Gulfport, said the40-foot mobile information center designed to disseminate homemortgage and home financial assistance was not swamped, butofficials were pleased with the turnout.

“We had a pretty steady stream of people throughout the dayvisit the bus,” she said.

Counselors rarely had no one to assist, Lassabe said, butinterested residents trickled through the bus by ones and twos.

“That’s good because then you’re able to give them fullattention and focus on the needs of each individual person withoutfeeling rushed,” she said.

Counselors with the Express assisted visitors with one-on-onemortgage or insurance counseling; access to online tools, such asthe nation’s top mortgage lenders; information about propertyinsurance, mortgage relief, predatory lending and governmentassistance for storm victims; and information about assistance fromlocal community-based organizations.

Visitors were a pretty even mix of locals needing assistancewith repairs and Gulf Coast evacuees seeking assistance withfinding and financing a permanent residence here.

Lassabe said they found a majority of evacuees visiting the bushad elected not to return to the coast and needed helpunderstanding the process of locating and securing financing for anew home while selling their coastal residences.

The Express also assisted several residents seeking financingfor their first home.

Freddie Mac, one of the nation’s largest mortgage investors,developed the HomeHelp Express along with an alliance of non-profitorganizations. The bus was brought to Monticello through theefforts of the AJFC Community Action Agency, Inc. of SouthwestMississippi.