Creating your Path to Financial Empowerment Blog

Coming April 22, 2016

The Access program from AT&T provides a low-cost option for wireline home Internet access to low-income households in the 21 states where we offer wireline home Internet services. To be eligible, at least one person in your household must be a participant in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Other eligibility requirements also apply.

Advantage, and disadvantage, can begin before birth and stretch over a lifetime.  Although our society has made great strides toward racial equality, marked differences remain between African Americans and Whites in many key indicators of health, opportunity, and prosperity.

The World Bank and other international organizations frequently cite incomes of less than $2.00 per person per day as a benchmark for poverty levels in developing countries. Policy experts in this country have also analyzed data on the extremely poor in the United States using this same standard. Next week, the authors of $2 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, will visit Ohio to talk about the plight of Americans living in extreme poverty.

By Joseph Ahern, Research Fellow

The Women's Network of Northeast Ohio is launching its second year of the EMPOWER! Women’s Business Mastery Program. The program focuses on supporting women business owners and prospective business owners in creating new ventures, as well as stabilizing, expanding, and leveraging existing female-owned businesses. 

Title loans first emerged in the early 1990s and opened a new market to individuals with poor credit and have grown increasingly popular according to studies by the Center for Responsible Lending and Consumer Federation of America. They are the cousin of unsecured loans, such as payday loans. Since borrowers use their car titles to secure the loans, there’s risk that the borrower can lose their vehicle by defaulting on their payments due to personal circumstances or high interest rates, which almost always have APR in the triple digits, and what’s called, “Balloon payments,” that some lenders have become infamous for.

Predatory lending comes in a number of different forms. In each instance, however, a financial institution takes unfair advantage of a consumer’s financial needs by charging high interest rates and other unconscionable fees and charges.

From National Association of Consumer Advocates

Your credit report tells potential lenders how responsible you’ve been with credit in the past. Lenders can legally request this document to assess how risky it is to lend to you.

When you apply for a job, purchase insurance or try renting a property, your credit report will most likely be pulled. It’s used for things you don’t even think about, so you certainly want to make sure you keep your score up.

You want your credit score to be as high as possible. So you should be aware of the different factors that can affect that important three-digit number!

From David Rothstein, NHS Cleveland.

Yesterday, NHS of Greater Cleveland along with the Consumer Federation of America and other national groups released a study  that polled Americans about their support and knowledge of the paid tax preparation industry. The poll shows strong support for regulation of paid tax preparation and price transparency. The Poll also finds a lack of understanding of what credentials paid tax preparers must possess. This report emphasizes the need for regional and national regulation of paid tax preparers and making free and quality tax preparation the norm. Currently, 4 states and 3 large cities regulate paid tax preparers while the IRS attempted to do so but was challenged and lost in U.S. Appeals Court. More work is needed to ensure families can receive the Earned Income Tax Credit while protecting and building assets.

JumpStart’s Core City: Cleveland Program can give you FREE access to the people, dollars and resources you need to make that idea a reality!

Through JumpStart’s Core City: Cleveland program, entrepreneurs and small business owners who live or own a business in an underserved area in Cleveland can work with JumpStart’s team of experts through a one-on-one consultation during our weekly open office hours beginning the week of January 27th.

Meet Walter Morris, a Financial Services Manager for Community Financial Centers. Walter is a trained professional who’s sole purpose is to help you manage your financial resourses in the best way possible. From budgeting, to savings and credit card management, he can help you learn how to get the most out of any size income.

If you are a single parent, let’s talk about the importance of having a living will.

Eager for a more positive workforce, an employer introduces counseling and free money-management services from Community Financial Centers

A Cleveland woman discovers a way out of debt- and the key to a stress- free retirement- with mobile initiative Community Financial Centers.

I wanted to share some of the great things happening with my clients.

Walter Morris, CFC Financial Services Manager

The Financial Services Managers at the CFC are trained professionals with a myriad of knowledge and resources. These dedicated individuals are also human, subject to the same challenges of every day life, family and career.

Marne is passionate about getting to know her clients as she helps them create a roadmap of success and realize their financial dreams.

We would all love to win the lottery and see our financial woes disappear, however, for many of us, financial security is earned, not given.