Monday, December 5, 2011

Here's a Golden Opportunity

The Reading Long-Term Recovery Committee is pleased to offer one-on-one financial counseling for Reading residents on Saturday, December 10, at the Reading Elementary School.

We know that recovering from the tornado has taken a toll on your financial well being, and we want to help you with your financial recovery.  We have contacted Housing and Credit Counseling, Inc. (HCCI) to send certified financial counselors to Reading to meet with those interested in developing a budget, receiving credit counseling and developing a plan to pay off debt.  This counseling session is being offered free of charge and will take one hour for the initial meeting with some additional on-line and telephone follow up over the following weeks.  A description of the types of counseling offered by HCCI are below.

To sign up for an appointment, please contact HCCI at 1-800-383-0217 and inform them that you’d like to make an appointment in Reading on December 10.  It is very important that you reference Reading immediately in your conversation. When you contact them, they can provide you with additional information about your appointment and what you will need to bring. Your appointment will take place in a classroom with just you and your financial counselor and is completely confidential. No information will be shared with members of the LTRC.

This counseling is available to all residents of Reading. For those who participate, the LTRC will provide a $50 Wal-Mart gift card to those who attend a counseling session on December 10 (one per household) and an additional $50 Wal-Mart gift card once you have successfully completed the follow up steps as directed by HCCI (one per household). 

The types of counseling available are:

Financial Counseling assists and educates clients in personal financial management such as setting goals, paying themselves first, tracking spending, completing paycheck-to-paycheck plans, identifying non-monthly expenses, prioritizing expenses, calculating general percentages of income spending, increasing income, and reducing expenses.  Financial counseling is used in all types of counsel and can include tracking property maintenance and/or rental expenses as well as personal budget expenditures.  Financial counseling includes identifying debt-repayment options available to them.

Credit Building Counseling educates clients regarding the importance of knowing what is on each of their 3 different credit reports, how to access their credit reports, how to read and understand them, how to dispute errors, how positive and negative credit affects them, and how to begin rebuilding credit for the future.

Bankruptcy - Pre-Bankruptcy Counseling and/or Education provides clients considering filing bankruptcy with budgeting information, a brief description of Chapter 13 and Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, other options and alternatives to repay debt, how each option affects credit, timeframes involved, and a review of the major changes in bankruptcy law.

Foreclosure Prevention, Mortgage Default, Loss Mitigation, and Rental Delinquency Counseling assists clients whose housing is at risk and may be facing eviction, mortgage default and foreclosure.  Counselors provide options for mortgage default, foreclosure and delinquency resolution. Counseling may include restructuring debt, arrangement of reinstatement plans, loan forbearance, and other loss mitigation tools. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.