Jacqueline Valdez-Campbell first came in for counseling in December of 2020 wanting guidance on fulfilling her goal of buying a home for herself and for her child. The client knew that she had some barriers to overcome.

At first, her credit scores were below the 600 level as the result of having some collection debt and also having her credit cards almost maxed out.
The client and the counselor worked out a monthly budget that the client followed religiously allowing her to meet all of her family’s financial obligations on time and with a modest surplus to apply to first eliminating the collection debts and later, to reduce her credit card balances.
The client enthusiastically followed the plan and soon opened a savings account as directed and her savings modestly grew. She also settled the collection debts to help her credit scores.

Then, the client used stimulus funds to first lower her credit card overall debt to around 30% as compared with the limits. The credit use was initially close to 90%. The client also used her tax return to add to her savings and soon had over $1000.00 saved. This allowed her to apply for both the East Tampa CRA Program and then for DARE. She finished her ET CRA classes and secured $30,000.00 to help her with her down payment and closing. Her DARE application is now been reviewed and the client should have a total of over $60,000.00 as she also plans to use lenders that will additionally contribute including Solita’s House. She is presently still working hard to further improve her credit scores and is shopping for the right lender.