When a client first contacts Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Rochester for help with their

debt, they will be scheduled for a First Appointment.

What is a First Appointment? A fir st appointment is a free one on one consultation with a

Certified Financial Counselor. The client and the counselor discuss any questions and/or con-

cerns that the client may be facing in order to find them the best debt relief option. The counselor

will ask about income, expenses, debt, future goals.

What items are required for a first appointment? Clients should br ing a month of their

most recent paystubs and should have an idea of what their monthly expenses are. Clients should

bring any and all statements from creditors they would like assistance with. If possible, bring a

copy of their free credit report from www.annualcreditreport.com.

What will happen during a First Appointment? During a fir st appointment the counselor

and client will go over the clients’ income and monthly budget to see what the client has coming

in versus what is going out. If need be, the counselor will make recommendations in areas where

the client is overspending or could cut back such as going out to eat, shopping, etc. The counse-

lor will also look at the client’s Experian credit report, and advise the client of their FICO credit

score and all of the accounts reporting to Experian. The counselor will make recommendations to

the client on ways to increase their credit score.

What’s next? After reviewing the credit repor t with the client, the counselor will go over

the options that may be available to the client to get them debt free and relieve them of their fi-

nancial stress. Some options that clients may have are a Debt Management Program to assist

them with paying off all of their debt within 5 years, or applying for a consolidation loan from a

bank. If referrals are needed for services that CCCS of Rochester does not provide, the counselor

will refer them to other agencies that may be more suitable for the clients’ needs.

Give our office a call at 585-546-3440 to schedule your First Appointment today!

First Appointment

CCCS of Rochester/RethinkingDebt Headquarters: 1000 University Ave, Rochester, NY 14607 **FALL 2015**

Inside this issue:

First Appointment 1

Veterans Benefits 2

Credit Repair 3

Ask CCCS 4

Holiday Spending 4

C.A.S.H Coach 5

Consumer Protection 5

Contact Us 6

By: Dominique Williams, Certified Financial Counselor

Page 2

Veterans Benefits

While spending 10 years in the United

States Marine Corps (USMC), I knew that

when I needed an answer to a question

that dealt with non-military issues, I

would simply ask a fellow Marine who

had more time in service than I did or

visit our administration office, and ask

one of the Marines whose job it was to

answer these types of questions. That was

12 years ago and things are different now.

I have found out through personal re-

search and speaking with other Veterans

that there are many resources and benefits

for those who need a little help with eas-

ing the financial burden of things like

property taxes, vehicle registration, tui-

tion and more.

Property Tax Exemptions

Property tax exemptions are available to

Veterans and apply to county, city, town,

and village taxes. There are three differ-

ent types of exemptions that Veterans can

receive:

1. Alternative Veterans’ Exemption- this

applies only to residential property for a

Veteran who has served during a desig-

nated time of war or received an expedi-

tionary medal.

2. Cold War Veterans’ Exemption- this is

only for residential property of one who

served during the Cold War period.

3. Eligible Funds Exemption- this applies

to property purchased by a Veteran or

certain other designated persons. Such

owners must purchase the property with

pension, bonus, or insurance monies.

Each exemption does have certain re-

quirements that must be met in order to

qualify which can be found at the follow-

ing link:

http://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/property/

exemption/vetexemptproof.htm

Vehicle Registration Exemption

Every two years in New York State, vehi-

cles must be registered. This, as with

property taxes, costs money. Here is an-

other little tip to help with these fees.

Through the New York State Department

of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Veterans can

qualify to be exempt from registration

fees and vehicle plate fees if they meet

certain qualifications such as:

•You are a qualified disabled Veteran

under Federal Title 38, Part III, Chapter

39, or

•You qualify for and apply for Congres-

sional Medal of Honor custom plates, or

•You are 62 years of age or older and you

qualify for and apply for Former Prisoner

of War custom plates.

If you’re anything like me, you take pride

in your service as well as the branch in

which you served and you want to let the

world know through a customized mili-

tary license plate. All vehicles that are

registered in NYS as a passenger class or

commercial class vehicle are eligible.

There are custom plates that are available

for motorcycles as well.

For additional information, including

application forms, visit the DMV website

at:

http://www.dmv.ny.gov/armedforces.htm

New York Education Benefits

The military has hundreds of different

types of Military Occupational Specialties

(MOS) and a large percentage of these

skills transfer over to the civilian world of

employment. If you were like me and

were in a unique field, then you know that

there are not many positions for someone

who specialized in field operations, for

example. That’s where New York Educa-

tion Benefits come in to assist.

Through this program, there are the Vet-

erans Tuition Awards (VTA) for full-time

and part-time study for eligible veterans

enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate

degree-granting institution or in an ap-

proved vocational training program in

New York State. Most colleges and uni-

versities have a Veterans Affairs depart-

ment that can advise you further about

this program and what it takes to qualify.

The transition from military life to civil-

ian life is not an easy one and realistical-

ly, we never really transition over, we just

adapt to our new surroundings. We miss

that which we understood fully, but there

are people out here that are waiting to

help Veterans with their transition.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to

those that are waiting to serve you as you

have served them.

Additional Assistance

To learn more about the benefits and ser-

vices, you may be eligible for as a Veter-

an, service member, or as a family mem-

ber of a Veteran or service member,

please call the New York State Division

of Veterans’ Affairs Help Line at

1.888.838.7697 (1.888.VETSNYS),

where you may also schedule an appoint-

ment with a Veterans Benefits Advisor.

All information here was obtained from

the New York Division of Veterans Ser-

vices. Visit their website for more infor-

mation on any of these programs at

www.veterans.ny.gov.

By: Rafael Ruiz, Client Support Specialist

Page 3

Steps to Repair Your Credit

By: Stacey Walker, Certified Financial Counselor

Your credit rating impacts many im-

portant factors and financial decisions in

your life, such as applying for a credit

card, getting a mortgage or car loan.

Therefore, it is very important to under-

stand your credit report, credit score and

how to improve your credit score. You

should always know who you owe and

what’s on your credit report. The follow-

ing are some helpful tips to get started on

repairing your credit.

Obtain a copy of your credit report

Go to www.annualcreditreport.com and

pull a report from all three credit report-

ing agencies- Experian, Equifax and

TransUnion. This is a website that gives

you free access to your credit report once

a year. You should take a look at your

credit report to find out which accounts

are in good standing and which may need

some work. Your credit report will give

your account numbers, balances, payment

amounts, closed accounts, paid off ac-

counts, open accounts and much more.

Dispute errors on your credit report

Make sure that all information is correct.

If it’s not, contact all the reporting agen-

cies to dispute the error. Mistakes can be

made and you should investigate any-

thing that doesn’t look familiar. This step

alone can remove damaging items on

your credit report that don’t belong to

you.

Pay off all collections accounts

Your payment history accounts for 35%

of your score. Collection accounts hurt

your credit score because these accounts

are past due. The farther behind you are

on payments, the more it hurts your credit

score. Get these paid off ASAP.

Pay off debt

Since you are trying to repair your credit,

pay off debt to increase your score and do

not charge anything else. Your outstand-

ing debt counts as 30% of your credit

score, so start paying it off to improve

your score.

Avoid new credit cards

Since you are in repair mode, you should

avoid adding new debt. This will help

lower your score. The more credit cards

and credit lines you have, the more credit

agencies take a look at your ability to

afford these lines. If your debt to income

ratio is out of whack, your credit score

can suffer.

Keep accounts open

Closing your credit cards with a balance

can hurt your credit score if the lender

stops reporting your credit limit. Also

even closing paid off accounts can hurt if

you have had the account for a long time

as this would shorten your credit history

which counts as 15% of your score.

Be patient

Give yourself some time for your score to

increase. This debt did not happen over-

night so it will take time before you will

see your credit score improve.

Call CCCS

CCCS of Rochester can also offer some

advice if you don’t feel confident han-

dling this yourself. Come see us and we

can walk you through your credit report

and budget to get you back on track to a

higher credit score. Call our Client Sup-

port Department at 585-546-3440.

Page 4

Ask CCCS

Question- Why do I receive monthly

statements from my creditors if Consum-

er Credit Counseling Service of Roches-

ter sends me a monthly statement?

Answer- This is a great question and it is

more common than you would think. It

is completely normal to continue receiv-

ing monthly statements from your credi-

tors. If you are not receiving statements

from your creditors, you should contact

them to ensure they have your most re-

cent contact information. These state-

ments provide you with valuable infor-

mation regarding your account with

them.

Key information located on your state-

ment that should be monitored on a

monthly basis:

• Balance

• Interest Rate

• Payment activity

• Interest charges

• Additional activity such as

credits or other balance adjustments

It’s important to monitor your monthly

statements to ensure that you’re being

charged the correct interest rate, your

balance is decreasing with payment ac-

tivity and that there is no unusual activi-

ty or additional fees being applied to

your account. If you have any questions

about your statement or notice incorrect

information, please contact our Client

Support Department for additional assis-

tance. The statement will provide us

with important information so please

have it available at the time of your call.

If necessary, we will contact your credi-

tor to resolve the issue.

CCCS of Rochester will also send you a

statement on a monthly basis. Our state-

ments provide estimated account balanc-

es, anticipated interest rates of each ac-

count as well as payment activity for

your Debt Management Plan.

In addition to reviewing your creditor

statements for accuracy, we request that

you compare our statement to that of

your creditor and notify us of any dis-

crepancies. Our staff members work in

partnership with you to ensure your ac-

count information is accurate and that

your Debt Management Plan is success-

ful .

By: Lisa Hochlander, Director of Counseling

Holidays and Spending

By: Pamela Hart, Client Support Specialist

The holiday buying season can be stress-

ful. If you don’t have a budget for your

gift giving and you rely on credit cards,

it can make the upcoming year’s financ-

es even more difficult. To avoid excess

spending and credit card debt, there are a

few things people can do.

First, look for sales. They are every-

where and some start earlier than

Thanksgiving. You can sign up for

Black Friday specials and flyers, and

also check out store web sites for sales.

Shopping online helps you narrow down

what you want and you don’t get in trou-

ble while wandering around stores.

Second, if you are able to leave the cred-

it cards at home, do it! Pay cash or use

your debit card, this will help avoid im-

pulse buying and over spending. Go with

a budget and only spend that much.

Third, Start saving throughout the year.

Take part in a Christmas Club or similar

saving product offered through your

bank. This will help avoid the last mi-

nute rush to save money and help pre-

vent you from feeling like you have no

choice but to use credit cards.

Fourth, if you use credit cards with pro-

motional rates, pay those card off before

the promotion is over! Once the promo-

tional rate ends, a large amount of inter-

est can be added to your bill. These rates

give you a deadline to work toward.

Don’t take part in the promotional rate,

though, if you don’t think you can pay it

off in time.

Last but not least, take advantage of lay-

a-way deals. A lot of stores offer either

free lay-a-way or a small percentage

down around the holiday time. If a store

where you shop does not offer a lay-a-

way service, start shopping earlier in the

year. You can also use bonuses or over-

time pay to get a few gifts throughout

year, this is also a good idea to avoid the

madness at checkout lines during the

holidays.

Using all or just one of these ideas will

help prepare you for the upcoming holi-

day season . These tips will help you

keep your expenses on track and not set

you behind for the New Year. Be realis-

tic and know your budget. Plan ahead on

an amount to spend per person and stick

to it! Happy Holidays!

Page 5

C.A.S.H Coach– Open Enrollment

C.A.S.H. - Creating Assets, Savings, and

Hope - is a community coalition led by

Empire Justice Center and the United

Way of Greater Rochester.

C.A.S.H. was established in 2002 to help

low-income workers make the most of

their money and build stronger financial

futures. CCCS of Rochester and

C.A.S.H. have worked together since

2005 to co facilitate a program known as

C.A.S.H. Coach.

With funding from the Women's Giving

Circle and ESL Federal Credit Union,

the program offers free, one-on-one fi-

nancial coaching, group meetings and

financial education. With the help of

trained volunteer coaches over a period

of 9 months, participants learn to man

age their money and improve their finan-

cial future through achieving realistic,

measureable and attainable financial

goals.

This year the C.A.S.H. Coach program

initiated a new process to enable year-

round enrollment of participants and

volunteer coaches. This means that those

who are interested can apply at any time

to start their journey to a stronger finan-

cial future. Hopefully this will allow

more people to take part in the program.

For more information about enrolling in

the C.A.S.H. Coach program, visit:

http://www.empirejustice.org/cash/cash-

coach-program/

or email: crieflin@cccsofrochester.org.

By: Chad Rieflin, Director of Programs and Grants

Consumer Protection Laws

In a complex financial industry, the US

government has addressed some of the

challenges consumers face in managing

day-to-day finances. There are a series

of Consumer Protection Laws designed

to ensure fair competition. Below are a

some of these laws.

Fair Credit Reporting Act– Under the

Fair Credit Reporting Act, you have the

right to a free credit report every twelve

months from Experian, Equifax, and

TransUnion. You also have the right to a

free credit report within 60 days of being

denied for credit, if you have been a vic-

tim of identity theft, if you are on wel-

fare, or if you are unemployed and will

be looking for a job within 60 days.

In addition to the right to a free credit

report, you also have the right to dispute

inaccurate information and to have it

investigated within 30 days.

Disputes should be sent directly to the

Credit Reporting Agency that is report-

ing the error – Equifax, Experian, or

TransUnion.

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

prohibits debt collectors from using abu-

sive, unfair, or deceptive practices

when collecting a debt.

The Credit Card Accountability, Re-

sponsibility and Disclosure Act (The

CARD Act)- The most recent addition

to Consumer Protection Laws, The

CARD ACT is a law regulating the cred-

it card industry. As of February 22,

2010, The CARD Act brought changes

to the credit card issuance practices by

giving credit card users greater control

and clearer terms for their accounts.

More information on The Card Act can

be found here:

http://www.federalreserve.gov/

consumerinfo/

wyntk_creditcardrules.htm

Truth in Lending Act- Under the

Truth in Lending Act, creditors have to

provide you with clear credit terms in

easy to read language. The complete

Truth in Lending Act can be found at the

FDIC's website here:

http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/

rules/6500-200.html

Fair Credit Billing Act- Under this

law you have the right to dispute billing

errors, including charges that you did not

authorize, charges for items or services

that were not agreed upon, and charges

with wrong information, such as the date

or the amount. More information, in-

cluding a sample dispute letter, can be

found at the FTC's website here:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/

consumer/credit/cre16.shtm

Equal Credit Opportunity Act- The

Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits

credit discrimination on the basis of sex,

race, marital status, religion, national

origin, age, or receipt of public assis-

tance. More information can be found at

the FTC's website here:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/

consumer/credit/cre15.shtm

Non-Profit Org

US Postage

PAID

Rochester, NY

Permit NO. 986

Toll Free Phone: 1-888-724-2227

Email: cccsinfo@cccsofrochester.org

Headquarters:

1000 University Ave., Suite 900

Rochester, NY 14607

Phone: (585) 546-3440

Fax: (585) 546-5693

Toll Free- (888) 724-2227

This newsletter is a publication of CCCS of Rochester/ RethinkingDebt.org, a Not-for-Profit agency. It is a source of information for clients, sponsors, representatives of the credit industry, and the service networks supportive of our mission and vision.

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