By helping families access work supports and benefits, and providing counseling and education to help them stabilize their economic situations and build toward the future, Single Stop improves their chances of achieving economic stability and mobility. Last year, through a combination of volunteers and paid financial counselors, Single Stop provided one-on-one financial counseling to nearly 3,400 clients. These individuals and families received crucial financial education and individualized support to help them manage their unique economic situations. This includes assistance repairing credit and improving credit scores, developing a budget, opening bank accounts, managing debt, learning about bankruptcy, and improving their savings patterns.
With over 15 percent of Americans having zero or negative net worth, debt counseling is a priority at Single Stop USA. Counselors access credit reports. Where there is substantial debt, counselors assist with negotiation of payment plans or settlement with creditors. In New York, Single Stop financial counselors helped clients reduce their debt by an average of $3,600.
In addition to helping resolve debt, counselors help correct errors on credit reports and advise families on how to improve their credit score. Correcting errors, such as mistaken identity, make a huge difference in a family's borrowing costs and recently, even in an individual's ability to get job offers and obtain housing. This means improving personal credit rating is key to improving the financial well-being of vulnerable, low-income families.
Many people living on the economic fringes of society do a large part of their "banking" at check-cashing stores, wasting time and money with each transaction. In fact, the Center for Economic Development found that an estimated 30 percent of Americans are unbanked, living without a bank account. By turning to check-cashing and payday loan services, many low-wage workers spend more than 2 percent of their income simply accessing their salary and pay loan rates that average nearly 500 percent annually. Single Stop USA counselors provide appropriate bank options.
Single Stop counselors walk clients through a budget template, assessing their assets and liabilities to determine their personal income statement, cash flow, and balance sheet. Single Stop USA has seen that that the low-income clients can increase their purchasing power by following a budget. Budgeting becomes all the more important in the aftermath of a sudden change in circumstances - such as collection of a tax refund. As another example, food stamps typically increase the annual purchasing power of a family by 40 percent. This makes the receipt of new benefits the perfect time for families to sit down with a financial counselor and plot out a brighter future.
Finally, Single Stop aims to help individuals build wealth. Recent research shows that as parents accumulate even modest reserves, their children develop better cognitive skills early on, stay in school longer and, ultimately earn higher incomes.
The Financial Clinic - Single Stop USA partners with The Financial Clinic to provide a customized ToolKit for Single Stop sites nationally. The ToolKit provides guidance for counselors to assist clients in achieving their financial goals, both at our community based organizations and community college sites. The Financial Clinic provides training on the Toolkit as well as technical assistance to our local partners.
Credit Where Credit Is Due - NY
The Financial Clinic - NY
Mission SF Community Financial Center - CA
YWCA of El Paso - NM
New Jersey Citizen Action - NJ
