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The difference in a “Quarter Point”.
By Steve Smith
Over a 29 year career in both conventional and financial education, one thing that has become increasingly apparent to me is how
lightly many consumers take paying an extra quarter, half or three-quarter of a point is when financing their homes, purchasing
autos, securing loans and obtaining credit cards. This nonchalant approach (that’s totally to a lending institution’s advantage) has been
very detrimental to the overall financial health of many families. A credit card offer for example, that offers an introductory rate
of anything over 20% is not to any consumer’s advantage even in an attempt to establish or re-establish credit or to satisfy an
immediate need. A competitive interest rate should always be the goal of any educated consumer no matter what their current financial
status presently is. There are a wide array of predators looking to exploit uneducated consumers and place them in undesirable
situations.
Personal Story
By Professor Harlin
Today I saw an old client. The client had come to pickup the remnants of their belongings that had been left behind during their swift
transition because of a lack of funding. The remnants where their personal belongings. Enough to fill up the back of a pick up truck easily.
The old client showed up with a rolling green trashcan. The one your gardener would use to put cutgrass and shrubs into. The trashcan
was dirty, filthy dirty. The old client was packing their belongings into this empty dirty trashcan and it just saddened me as I watch this old
client put about a fourth of their belonging into the trashcan and then roll it down the street to the new place of residency. I thought of this
client predicament. I thought back to an earlier time when the relationship was much, much more than this old client. I remember having
encouraged this old client to get a drivers license amongst the many other attempt to help this old client move forward. I knew this client
had a wife and young child and now another one on the way. My sadness continued to grow throughout the day. Then I realized the
numerous steps that we at the community center had encouraged along the eight-month journey that led to this moment. I had to
surrender to the truth that you can give all you have to give and still people will chose not to change.