Pooled Trusts - Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Rochester

CCCS of Rochester/RethinkingDebt Headquarters: 1000 University Ave, Rochester, NY 14607 **Spring 2015**
Pooled Trusts
Inside this issue:
Pooled Trusts
1
By: Stephanie Phillips, BalancedCare
Budget Vacations
2
Ask CCCS
2
Credit Scores
3
Privacy
4
First Home Club
5
Career Start
5
Stay Connected
6
A pooled trust is a special account established and administered by a non-profit organization that
manages peoples money so Medicaid doesn’t count it as income. This helps some people qualify
for community services who would not normally be able to qualify.
According to Federal and New York State laws, a person of any age with a disability can use a
pooled trust to protect income or resources that would otherwise disqualify them for government
benefits, such as Medicaid. There are 3 different types of trusts. A 1st Party Pooled Trust is funded with the income or resources of the person with a disability and can be a “spend down” or
lump sum trust. A 3rd Party Pooled Trust is funded with a gift from family members, such as an
inheritance, and can be placed in the trust during life, by Will, through life insurance or retirement funds. The trusts are set up with subaccounts for each beneficiary in the trust and the trust
pools these accounts. The trust not only shelters resources and income to qualify the individual
for benefits, but the money can then be turned around to pay certain expenses for the beneficiary.
BalancedCare is a part of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Rochester, Inc. and provides
Medicaid application assistance. In the process of applying for Medicaid, a pooled trust may
need to be established and BalancedCare can assist in the facilitation of the trust setup during this
process. Future Care Planning Services and Center for Disability Rights are two local agencies
that offer a Pooled Trust for New York State Residents. If you want to find out if a Pooled Trust
may help you qualify for Medicaid services, call BalancedCare at 585-360-1854.
Vacation on a Budget
By: Jeana Breakingbury, Advisor
It is hard to justify spending money on a
vacation when things are tight financially. However, everyone needs a break
whether it is just a few days or a week.
Preplanning will make this getaway easier emotionally and financially. Here are
a few things to think about when preplanning:
• Set a budget. What can you afford
without getting yourself behind in your
regular expenses? Do not use credit
cards to pay for your trip. Give yourself
plenty of time to save the money so you
can pay cash. Make sure that you are
calculating the cost of gas or airfare,
shelter, food and activities. Also, add to
that miscellaneous cash for unplanned
expenses or emergencies. If you have
family or friends that you can stay with
families because of school so if you have
to travel during the peak times, remember you are going to pay a little more.
When traveling during peak times, you
will want to book hotels and air travel
early to allow you to shop for the best
price. All-inclusive and cruise vacations
will usually include your stay, airfare,
food and activities which could save you
money.
While on your vacation, monitor you’re
spending. Go to a local grocery store
and buy water, snacks and lunch items.
• Where do you want to go? Take a look If you dine out and have left overs, use
at the time of year you want to go. Will the hotel refrigerator and microwave to
it be cheaper to go in the off season?
warm up for lunch the following day.
Usually hotels and airfare are cheaper
When you arrive at your destination, ask
during slower times. Traveling during
for any discount brochures for dining out
the off season can tend to be difficult for or activities. Have fun!!
during your getaway, that will help cut
the cost.
Ask CCCS
By: Lisa Hochlander, Director of Counseling and Client Support
Question- How can I pay off my debt faster ?
Answer- We encour age all our clients to make additional payments as often as
they are able. Tax time, birthdays, holidays and graduations are times when you
may have extra money to apply toward your debt. There are several ways to make
extra payments on your account. If you would like to make a permanent increase to
your monthly plan payment, please contact our Client Support Department to discuss the best options for paying down your debt. Our knowledgeable staff members
are prepared to provide you with important account information that will help you decide where to apply your extra payments.
You can make payments on our website at www.cccsofrochester.org by clicking on the “Make a Payment” option of the
“Quick Links” section then selecting Debt Management Plan or you can make additional payments in the form of a bank
check or money order by stopping in or mailing your payment to:
CCCS of Rochester
1000 University Avenue, Suite 900
Rochester, NY 14607
Page 2
Tips to Increase Your Credit Score
By: Stacey Walker, Advisor
Most people don’t worry about credit
until they need credit. When we are shopping around for a house, car or applying
for credit cards or retail cards is when we
get concerned about being turned down.
When we are denied credit, it can be hard
to swallow and can be embarrassing
when someone tells you that you were
not approved. Checking your credit report every year and staying on top of
your credit is very important. When looking at your credit report, make sure everything on the report is correct; i.e. debts
that you have, cars, mortgages, credit
cards, student loans etc. Identity theft is
very common and you do not want to be
a victim of it. Checking your credit report
is a great way to catch any suspicious
items that may be identity theft. Always
use www.annualcreditreport.com to review your credit report as other reporting
sources do not always give you the full
report or might make you pay for the
report.
More and more types of people are
checking your credit report. Apartment
complexes, utility companies, employers
and insurance companies- just to name a
few- check your report to see if you are
credit worthy or to see if you pay your
bills on time.
Page 3
• 15% of your score is Length of Credit
History
Accounts open for a long time have a
positive impact on your score.
• 10% of your score is Recent Inquires
Do you know what makes up your credit
score? The list below gives you an example of what is used to calculate your
score.
• 35% of your credit score is Payment
History
Paying your bills on time will help out
tremendously.
Delinquent payments and collection accounts report negatively and affect your
score.
Apply for and open new credit accounts
only as needed. Do not open an account
just because of a retail promotion. Also,
every time you attempt to apply for credit
cards 5 points will be taken away from
your score. Keep new accounts to a minimum.
• 10% of your score is Types of Credit
Try to have at least 3 different typescredit card, car payment, personal loan,
student loan or mortgage.
It’s never too late to clean up your credit
and improve your credit score. Keep in
• 30% of your score is Outstanding
mind this debt did not happen overnight,
Debt
so it will take some time and patience to
Having too many open lines of credit can establish good credit again. When increasing your credit score you are relower your score.
building your credit history. There is no
quick fix for a bad score, so please be
Keep balances low on credit cards and
suspicious of any deals that offer you a
other revolving credit. If you have a
fast easy solution. CCCS of Rochester/
$1000 credit limit, you only want to
RethinkingDebt can help you understand
spend $300 on that card. Do not use the
your credit report and also get some of
whole line.
those pesky debts paid off so you can
High outstanding debt lowers your score. increase your score for the future.
Your Privacy
By: Anthony DiLuglio, Advisor
Consumer Credit Counseling Service of
Rochester is a non-profit agency that has
been doing business in the Rochester,
NY area for over 40 years. In recent
years, CCCS of Rochester has expanded
to other areas of New York State as RethinkingDebt. We, as an organization,
take seriously the trust you give to us
when it comes to protecting your personal information. Everything you say to us
during your counseling session is kept
WRITTEN REQUEST, or when our
private and confidential.
staff has been served by a valid subpoeTo protect your personal information
na.
from unauthorized access and use, we
use security measures that comply with The following PRIVACY PRACTICES
detail circumstances under which we
federal and state law.
will release your information to a third
Our agency is committed to assuring the
party:
privacy of individuals and/or families
who have contacted us for assistance.
•We do not disclose any nonpublic perWe assure you that all information
sonal information about our customers
shared both orally and in writing will be or former customers to anyone, except as
managed within legal and ethical consid- permitted by law.
erations. Your personal financial infor•We may compile data and aggregate
mation, such as your total debt inforinformation that you give us, but this
mation, income, living expenses and
information may not be disclosed in a
information concerning your financial
manner that would personally identify
circumstances, will be provided to crediyou in any way.
tors and possibly others only with your
specific authorization.
•We may disclose some or all of the
information that we collect, as described
We may also use aggregated case file
below, to creditors, or third parties that
information for the purpose of evaluatyou have authorized who need this inforing our services, gathering valuable remation in order for us to assist you after
search information and designing future
a counseling session.
programs. Your anonymity will be maintained through the use of your client
•We may disclose all of the information
number or by using aggregate data in all that we collect, as described below, to
circumstances.
creditors and related financial institutions that need this information in order
In all other situations, your information
to put you on a debt management promay be released to appropriate individugram (DMP).
als or agencies ONLY UPON YOUR
Page 4
•We restrict access to nonpublic personal information about you to those employees who need to know that information to provide services to you. We
maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with federal regulations to guard your nonpublic
personal information.
•We collect nonpublic personal information about you from the following
sources:
-Information we received from
you on our applications or other forms
you provide
-Information about your transactions with your creditors, others, or us.
-Information we receive from a
credit reporting agency.
•We may disclose the following kinds of
nonpublic information about you:
-Information we receive from
you on applications or other forms, such
as your name, address, social security
number, assets and income.
-Information about your transactions with us, your creditors, or others,
such as your account balance, payment
history, parties to transactions and credit
card usage
-Information we receive from a
credit reporting agency, such as your
credit history.
First Home Club
By: Robert Jacob, Advisor
Many New Yorkers dream of home
ownership, but also struggle with being
able to put aside the money for a down
payment and closing costs. The First
Home Club, a program established in
1995 by the Federal Home Loan Bank,
is designed to help eligible first time
home buyers achieve this dream.
a completed application from the partner
bank, 2 years of federal tax returns with
W2’s and a month of paystubs.
At CCCS of Rochester/RethinkingDebt,
we assist with this process by meeting
with and providing each potential homebuyer with a budget consisting of
monthly income as well as expenses. At
The program is a grant of up to $7,500
that appointment, we also provide a debased on a 4:1 match of money saved in
tailed analysis of their credit report to
a club savings account at a partner bank
locate any potential issues and, then,
which offers the First Home Club. Dureducate the client on what needs to be
ing a period of 10 to 24 months, the bor- homes.
done in order meet the requirements of
rower will make monthly deposits into
the program and make the dream of
this account. The grant along with the
How can you determine if you qualify? home ownership a reality. We also offer
funds that have been saved can total as
There are a few ways to qualify but inthe workshop needed to close on your
much as $9,400. The money is then used come limits are $55,600 or less for 1-2
home. This workshop includes topics
toward the down payment and/ or clos- person households and less than $63,940 such as inspections, insurance, and
ing costs of a home anywhere in the
for households of 3 and more. Potential working with a realtor.
state of New York, New Jersey, Puerto
first homebuyers must have a credit
Call CCCS of Rochester/RethinkingDebt
Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Eligible score of about 650 and full time work
and we can help determine if you qualiproperty types consist of 1-4 family
history for the past two years. The rehomes, co-ops, condos and mobile
quired documentation usually consists of fy for this program.
Guest Essay: Career Start
By: Kendall Jones
Career Start is a private, locally owned
full-service employment firm. From our
start in 2007, we’ve focused our efforts
on being a leading community resource
to employers, community and government agencies, and job applicants.
We’ve built strong employer relationships by offering a full range of employment services, including entrylevel recruitment and staffing; midlevel management and executive recruitment; daily flex workforce staffing; recruitment for direct hires; and
payrolling for contracted agencies and
employers.
Through this collective, we are able to
offer community members case management services, job placement and
education and training in one of eight
vocational tracks: Assembly & Manufacturing, Automotive Technology,
Building Maintenance, Carpentry, Certified Nursing Assistant, Culinary, Customer Service, and Printing & Promotions.
Career Start provides job readiness
workshops, resume writing, soft skill
building, one-on-one job search, and
placement and retention assistance.
Career Start has a proven track record
The Rochester Workforce Consortium of successfully executing several placeis a collaborative partnership with the
ment and retention programs. Our team
Rochester City School District’s Office of professionals has built relationships
of Adult Career and Education Serwith countless government and nonvices, Catholic Family Center, and Career
Start.
profit agencies, and employers to better
serve the needs of our community.
We focus on a results-driven approach
to providing services to our partners
and clients. Career Start has consistently met or exceeded program outcomes
for deliverables on externally funded
contracts, and is always striving to provide an effective and efficient allocation of resources.
We are always accepting new clients
and welcoming new community partnerships.
To learn more about our agency, please
visit our website at
www.careerstartny.com or call 585-360
-2620.
Page 5
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Toll Free Phone: 1-888-724-2227
Email: [email protected]
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.
Headquarters:
1000 University Ave., Suite 900
Rochester, NY 14607
Phone: (585) 546-3440
Fax: (585) 546-5693
Toll Free- (888) 724-2227