Macon woman overcomes debt as she strives to purchase first home

With more than $9,000 in credit card debt, LaVerne Woodford knew she was in trouble.

At times, the 57-year-old thought she always would be stuck in the Macon house she has rented for 27 years. Woodford dreamed of buying her own house one day, but that seemed out of reach as the debt and interest kept piling up.

She only made minimum payments on a slew of eight or nine credit cards. Opening a new credit card account from big-box stores such as Belk, Sears or Lowe's was easy. Perhaps too easy.

Woodford said she became accustomed to opening a new account whenever store employees asked if she was interested. Even credit card offers she received in the mail sometimes became yet another avenue for more spending and higher debt.

"When I tried to do it on my own, I was making partial payments -- $50 here, $70 there, and it wasn't working because the interest was going up," Woodford said. "That was keeping me in debt and was hurting my credit score."

Like many in Macon, Woodford was neck-deep in debt problems that can make it difficult to obtain financial stability. A 2015 study by personal finance website WalletHub ranks Macon a dismal 139 out of 150 U.S. cities when it comes to credit and saving. Macon fared worse in regard to overall budgeting, coming in 145th.

A portion of the study used reports from credit agency Experian, which shows Macon's average credit score is 637. Of the 150 cities in the list, Macon was 137th in the credit score category. The top city in the nation was Mankato, Minnesota, which boasted an average credit score of 706.

For Woodford, improving her credit score meant working more overtime to help pay off the credit cards in larger chunks. She sometimes paid as much as $200 or $300 from each paycheck on a couple of credit cards at a time. Her specific plan was set up by HomeFirst, a center in Macon that provides education and resources to develop and maintain homeowners.

Woodford now has just two credit cards, far fewer than the number of cards she used to rack up all that debt in the first place.

After some prodding from Reginald Bell, the executive director of HomeFirst, Woodford realized she'd been swimming in debt long enough. She wanted to repaint her financial picture.

She was able to pay off her creditors over a 20-month span, and her patience has paid off.

She's now on track to buy her first house after pre-qualifying for a $95,000 home loan. Over the past year, she has been trying to find the right one. She's looking for a home that costs less than her approved limit that also features a den where her two grandchildren can play.

"Owning a home is something I always dreamed of, and now I can say I'm going to have one," said Woodford, a social service technician at River Edge Behavioral Health Center.

Besides setting up the payment plans, Woodford also took financial classes through HomeFirst. In those classes, banking professionals and others explained the process of buying a home.

"I wasn't in a struggle the way (HomeFirst) had me set up (to pay off debt)," she said. "I was still able to live and buy things I needed."

MACON EXPANDS CREDIT COUNSELING OPPORTUNITIES

Several major factors play roles in credit problems, said Bell of HomeFirst. Among them are poverty and a lack of workforce development, education and financial literacy.

The situation can sometimes become cyclical, as poor people often pay more for goods and services and have to decide which bills they can afford to pay at any given time, he said.

"What we try to get is for people to look at what their goals are, what they are trying to accomplish and what's their capacity," Bell said. "A lot of people don't realize what they can do until they are shown ways to manage their money."

While HomeFirst continues to offer counseling services, another initiative called Operation HOPE will bring its footprint to Macon next month when it opens a center at the Buck Melton Community Center, 150 Sessions Drive. The agency has a goal of pushing credit scores above 700, which is defined as "good" by credit agencies.

"Given some of the economic dynamics and the wealth of opportunities that are here, the thinking was that Macon would be an excellent place to begin the work of Operation HOPE in a mid-sized city," said James Bumpus, director of the small business affairs office for Macon-Bibb County.

Improved credit scores also mean better businesses are more likely to move into disadvantaged neighborhoods, Bumpus said.

Predatory businesses such as those that cash payroll checks for high fees are replaced by banks, and grocery stores move in instead of liquor stores, according to Operation HOPE's website.

Bumpus said that "700-credit-score communities empowers those communities to receive investment. It's creating a demand for goods, services, retail and all those wonderful economic engines."

Meanwhile, Woodford's search for a new home continues. She scrolls through listings on her cellphone, drives to neighborhoods to check out properties and visits them with her real estate agent. The process was once a frustration, but she knows the hardest part is over.

"The (home) is not going anywhere now that those debts are paid off," Woodford said. "I don't let the stress bother me anymore. Even when I'm not finding that perfect one, I still know in the back of my head that I can buy that house."

To contact writer Stanley Dunlap, call 744-4623.

This story was originally published December 12, 2015 at 8:26 PM with the headline "Macon woman overcomes debt as she strives to purchase first home ."