A helping hand

By Mary Wade Burnside
Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT November 17, 2008 11:22 pm

— Has your credit card debt gotten out of hand? Have doctor bills piled up? Or have you considered buying a home but need some education on the impending mortgage procedure?
Then Consumer Credit of North Central West Virginia can help, with mostly free services funded in part by the United Way.
Consumer Credit, with offices in Clarksburg and Morgantown, is part of Criss-Cross, a multi-service agency that helps people with financial issues.
“Anybody can receive services, depending on what program you are wanting with us,” said executive director Amie Darway. “We’re not going to put someone on a debt management program if it’s not in your best interest. We might make a recommendation to other agencies.
“And some might not need debt management but they might need somebody to look at their expenses and say, ‘Here are some areas where you can cut back on.’”
Consumer Credit also can help people look at their credit report, which is recommended periodically — at least once a year or before beginning a major purchase.
“If there is an error on the report, it takes time to get it fixed, and if you are walking into the bank to do a loan and they pull you, you have spent the time and maybe the application fees that you might not get back,” Darway said.
Television ads tout free credit reports, but according to Darway, “The only actual free credit report is at AnnualCreditReport.com. The others are going to make you sign up to belong to a club to get the free one, or there is usually a catch to it.”
Although compared to a lot of other states, West Virginia has been spared a lot of the mortgage credit headaches currently taking place, Darway estimated that about 20 percent of Consumer Credit’s clients for housing situations.
“We’re not as bad off as the country as a whole, but there are still individuals that are experiencing foreclosure,” she said.
Also, Consumer Credit can help senior citizens with a potential option called a reverse mortgage, which allows people 62 and older to take equity in their home so they can have money to spend.
“They don’t have to make monthly payments, and when they pass, the house is sold and the loans are paid in full,” she said. “If it’s a family heirloom that’s been in the family for generations, that’s probably not a product you want to use.”
Darway also has seen more people with credit cards, in part because their income has remained the same but expenses have gone up.
“They have relied on credit cards and the snowball effect is just catching up, and they can’t make ends meet,” Darway said.
Some people, especially those with high-interest cards, make payments but never make any progress on the debt.
“We can work with the client and creditors to get the payments more manageable, and they are actually getting somewhere and they have a goal to get out of debt,” Darway said.
But even people without debt or credit problems can take advantage of Consumer Credit’s services, including pre- and post-purchase housing counseling.
New buyers need to know how to get pre-approved for a loan, and new owners need to know how to deal with the expenses that will come their way, Darway said.
“Now you are living in it and we help you set up a budget and educate you on what pitfalls not to fall into,” Darway said. “Foreclosure is a big issue now. I have a certified housing counselor and a certified reverse mortgage counselor.”
United Way of Marion County helps Consumer Credit not with an outright donation, but by paying up to $2,500 for counseling Marion County residents on debt management, helping them research a credit report and other types of services.
“Once we counsel someone, we send them a monthly invoice and they return that to us,” Darway said.
The money is important to Consumer Credit, Darway said, and she also believes it’s important for United Way donors to know that there is an agency that can help them.
“A lot of people give to United Way and you may think, ‘There will never be a service I need or hopefully need,’” Darway said. “But at some point, everybody has a credit issue, whether you are getting ready to buy a new home and need purchase advice, or need to review your credit report.
“That’s a service everybody can take advantage of no matter their income, and knowing they are contributing to the United Way and their dollars are coming back to them helps out a lot of people.”
E-mail Mary Wade Burnside at mwburnside@timeswv.com.

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