Every day, seniors face financial difficulties caused by everything from high credit card debt to unexpected medical expenses.  Life situations can be so complicated today that no one can be expected to have all the answers.  Searching for answers to complex financial questions can be frustrating and overwhelming.

Here’s some good news.  Our caring professional staff offers the tools to rebuild your finances.  Whether the need is help with credit card debt, counseling for a delinquent mortgage or training on how to do an effective personal budget, the answers start with a solid foundation.

Financial and Credit Counseling

Certified financial counselors provide individual, confidential advice for developing budgets, managing money, using credit wisely and building a savings plan.

Your financial counselor will start by reviewing your goals so that your counseling is focused on what’s most important to you.

Your counselor will then review your current situation, offering solutions to your current financial problems as well as personalized plans for preventing financial pitfalls in the years to come.  You and your counselor will review your income and your expenses to develop a budget that you can live with.

Your counselor can also provide you with your merged credit report for a small additional fee. In reviewing your credit report, your counselor will review your credit score and payment history, make recommendations on how to re-establish credit, show you how to dispute inaccurate entries and how to manage your credit in preparation for achieving your goals.

Bill Payment and Debt Management Plan

Managing monthly bills can be time consuming and often overwhelming.  Creating an automatic payment system, with support of a financial counselor, can make all the difference for you when you are struggling to manage your finances and remain independent.  Counselors can develop a bill-payment system with you.

Debt Management is a systematic way to pay down your outstanding debt through monthly deposits to Family Foundations, which in turn distributes these funds to your creditors.  We work with you and your creditors to design a repayment program that is affordable for you and minimizes interest and related fees.

By participating in this program, you may benefit from reduced or waived finance charges and fewer collection calls.  Once you have completed your payments, we’ll help you to re-establish your credit.

Your accounts with creditors will always be credited with 100% of the amount you send Family Foundations every month for your debt payment.  You will be charged a small materials fee by Family Foundations to help pay for the administrative handling of your account, but the charge will never be more than $35 per month.

For those with considerable debt problems, entering Debt Management is an effective first step on the road to a financially stable, debt-free life.

Reverse Mortgages

Your house may be able to pay you! For some seniors, a Reverse Mortgage can provide a way to tap into the equity built in your home to stabilize your finances and provide needed income.

However, the decision to take out a Reverse Mortgage is a big one.  Counseling from a certified financial counselor is required to obtain this type of mortgage.

Family Foundations’ financial counselors have received certification from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) to provide Reverse Mortgage Counseling.   The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has approved Family Foundations to deliver this service.

We can help you decide if a Reverse Mortgage is the right thing for you.

Identity Theft

Seniors are the most targeted population for Identity Thieves.

Family Foundations has developed an educational program specifically for seniors to help them protect themselves from Identify Theft.

This curriculum will give you a number of tools and suggestions that you can use to protect yourself and your money.

For information on these programs and to set up an appointment, please contact us.