Credit Up Loan Guarantee Fund- Judith’s Story

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Judith is a first generation American who started her own cleaning business two years ago.  She had no credit, but needed a car to get from house to house, so she went to predatory auto lender– a “buy here, pay here” dealer, and ended up with an APR of 21.58% and monthly payments of $568. She grossed $3,800/month in her business. Twenty six months of on-time payments later, she still owed $16,000 on the loan, but her vehicle was only worth $12,000. Even though her credit score had climbed into the high 600’s as a result of her on-time payments, she couldn’t find a financial institution to refinance her to a lower rate.

Judith met with one of our financial counselors who thought she would be perfect to be our first test case with our Loan Guarantee Fund. This fund is held by Sound Outreach at Harborstone Credit Union to help reduce the risk of defaults when they lend to our clients.

Because we knew Judith made vehicle payments on time at $568/month for more than 12 months, and because we guaranteed half of any potential default, Harborstone refinanced her auto loan to below 5%, bringing​ her payments to $377/month, which saves her $191 monthly, and a total of $6,500 in interest over the next 48 months of payments. We have high hopes for Judith’s success and for our continued partnership with Harborstone Credit Union!

The Little Family Foundation believes so strongly in the ability of our new Credit Up Loan Guarantee Fund to have a real, measurable and direct impact on the cycle of poverty that they have offered to match all new donations in order to significantly grow our fund and to support our Financial Counseling program!

For every dollar donated, half will go toward our CreditUp Financial Counseling Program, and half will be matched up to $10,000 and placed in our Loan Guarantee Fund. Reaching our $20,000 goal would mean that Harborstone Could loan up to $400,000 to our clients in order to help them end the cycle of poverty!

Will you join us in the fight to end poverty in Pierce County?