How’s your credit score? Are you saving enough for retirement? What about your student debt? These are all basic financial questions, but many people don’t know who to ask. But if you’re a D.C. resident, you can get financial counseling from a certified professional — and it’s free.
Joel Jacobs is getting ready to graduate from law school, and like millions of Americans, he’s concerned about paying off his student debt.
“How to get through the rest of law school, D.C. with rising rents, it’s really expensive, just making ends meet,” he said. “… Savings, budget, really just figuring out income with being a full-time student. It’s just a lot to balance.”
Jacobs heard about the D.C. government’s free financial empowerment services, where any District resident — regardless of age or income — can meet face-to-face with a certified financial counselor.
“Learning how to utilize credit is something that we see a lot,” said financial counselor Quiana English. “Also, generational wealth. You know, people want to leave something behind. They want to have assets that they can leave for their family. So being able to work on their finances now and save for that future is something that we help a lot of people with.”
More than 1,000 D.C. residents have already used the free financial counseling since Mayor Muriel Bowser launched the program two years ago. It’s available on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library downtown at 901 G St. NW.
“We’ll do an intake session with an individual, find out what their goals and objectives are, do a credit background check with them, so that they can have an opportunity to read their credit report and see what’s going on there, as well as to talk about their budget and how they can enhance their finances,” said Michelle Hammonds, director of the D.C. Office of Financial Empowerment.
She said these topics aren’t discussed on a daily basis.
“So we don’t expect you to know everything,” Hammonds said. “So there are professionals that can help you, and please let them do that. Don’t be ashamed. Please don’t let your finances go into ruin because you are afraid to talk to someone.”
English points to one easy exercise: simply going line by line through your bank and credit card statements to see where you’re spending your money
“If you want to just bring in your bank statements to your financial counselor, we’ll do the highlighters,” she said. “We’ll say, ‘OK, all the orange, those can go. All the yellow, we need to keep those.’ So we’ll actually go through the process to show you exactly what you’re spending. And once you know that, you have the power. You have the power to control your finances at that point.”
D.C. residents can sign up for the free counseling by contacting the D.C. Department of Insurance Securities and Banking by calling 202-682-6572 or emailing FEC@upo.org.