Motel to Home Participants Attend Banking and Credit Counseling Workshop
On Saturday, February 22nd, 15 families in the Motel to Home (M2H) program and their caseworkers joined together in a workshop on why credit matters and banking tips. The workshop was led by Clearpoint Program Manager & Financial Wellness, Jai Makokha, who gave the participants debt and budget counseling tips. One of the most important things that Jai mentioned first was to understand how to pull up a credit report and read the types of information that it contains.
Next, he explains that the first thing to deal with on a credit report would be the Collection Agency account information. “No matter if you are paying other bills, you MUST deal with your collection debt first or your credit score will not improve,” said Jai. He understood that a lot of people wanted to improve their credit score, but didn’t know how to- so he educated the participants on good types of debt and bad types of debt.
Participants and clients were able to ask numerous questions regarding credit and were encouraged by the answers they received. One great tip that Jai included was, “If you can ONLY pay the minimum due- pay $5 more and one day before to help improve your credit score quicker.” These financial tips will certainly help the clients improve their debt and reach their financial goals.
A little later in the workshop, the participants were able to create vision boards with one another. The vision boards were a way for the women to create goals that they would like to achieve. There were many heartfelt smiles and encouragement as a few ladies presented their boards towards the end of the class.
A special thank you to Norcross CO-OP and Head Start for taking the time to speak to the participants about the resources that they have available. Also, a big thank you Christ Church Episcopal for serving a delicious breakfast!
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