Heritage Family CU Helps Senior Citizen Recover From Debt

A man in his late 70’s came to Heritage Family CU for a HELOC. His wife had died a few months prior and without her social security income he was drowning in debt. He was too proud to seek financial assistance and was trying to figure things out on his own. He is a man in his late 70s but still worked a 40 hour week.  By the time he came to the credit union his credit score was in the high 400s. They could see on his credit report that prior to losing his wife’s income his loans had always been paid as agreed. It was not difficult to see that by consolidating ALL of his debt that he could easily afford a payment for a HELOC.  The line had a very high rate of interest due to his poor credit score. They advised him to come back in a year and they would refinance his loan into a lower rate if he made all of the payments on time.

He came in earlier this year and they refinanced that loan into a new HELOC with a rate of 4.75%. His payment went from $844 per month to $589. He said he will be eternally grateful because the credit union helped him twice. Once when they believed in him enough to get him out of the dilemma he found himself in and again when they refinanced that loan to save him $255 each month.