FINANCIAL LITERACY WORKSHOP
The Central Jersey Housing Resource Center’s (CJHRC) free program for those that are trying to establish or re-establish credit, have been denied recently for credit or want to better understand debt and special savings program. This workshop has been revamped and will be much more interactive with participants walking away with important information they want and need. While in the past the topic of ”Understanding Your Finances” focused on budgeting and tracking of expenses, now in addition participants will each receive a calculator and a bill paying organizer. The attendees will do a few real life examples so they feel confident in creating a budget and be able to calculate their debt to income ratio after the program. Credit is an important topic, and the majority of landlords in our area charge $25-$55 per applicant for a credit check. This program will cover a lot of information on credit including what makes up a credit score and what is in a credit report. In the past, we gave participants information on how they can request a free copy of their report from annualcreditreport.com and that information will still be provided. In addition, the April 8, 2015 participants will have the option of getting their credit report. This does mean it will be a “hard pull” but they will be able to receive a tri-merge printed credit report ($25 value) and leave with a printed copy at the end of class if they authorized this. This is free courtesy of Bank of America. Participants will learn about Credit Scoring, Fair Housing, Important Documents to Have/Keep, Identity Theft Protection, 10 Financial Danger Signals, Ways to Obtain Savings, Understanding what Makes Up a Credit Score, Basic Credit Repair Strategies and more. Pre-registration is required by April 3, 2015 by 3:00 pm or until we run out of seats (program is limited to 30 people). A $5 gift card will be given to each household who pre-registers, attends and turns in a completed evaluation.
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