Fair Housing and Lending Program

PROUD Homeownership Initiative

Free and Confidential Financial Help!

*VITA is back!  Why pay to borrow your own money????  Avoid tax preparation fees and refund anticipation loan fees by having your taxes prepared for free at a VITA site.  A Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site is now open at Operation Threshold's office at 405 Chestnut Street, Waterloo.  Tax preparation will be available on Mondays from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm and on Saturdays from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.  The service will be available through the month of March.  Volunteers at the site will do taxes for low and moderate income individuals and families free of charge.  (Households with self-employment income are not eligible).

Foreclosure Prevention Assistance

Brunch and Learn Event

Additional Housing Resources

Operation Threshold's Housing and Fair Lending Counselors Offer:

1) Homebuyer Education

    Classes:  Both the pre- and post-purchase homebuyer education classes are taught in four sessions over the course of a month.  Class topics include financial management and budgeting information, energy conservation, anti-predatory lending information, and home maintenance. 

• Flyer

   Pre-Loan (Purchase) Counseling includes:

• Understanding the home-buying process and the key players

• Decide how much home you can realistically afford

• Review your credit and help you prepare your credit for home ownership

• Develop a savings plan for your down payment

• Decide what kind of mortgage is right for you

    Post-Purchase Counseling includes:

• Understanding the different financing options: Home equity loans, refinances, home equity lines of credit

• Consequences of delinquency/default mortgage payments

• Budgeting and Building and Emergency Fund Reserve

• Foreclosure prevention counseling

• Home maintenance and repair

2) Anti-predatory lending education.  Predatory loans may include pay day loans, car title loans, rapid refund loans, home equity loans, home equity lines of credit loans.  Our counselor presents anti-predatory lending information to public forums, church groups, housing fairs, and other public outlets. 

3) Financial Literacy Education

    Credit Counseling includes:

• Advice on managing and budgeting your money

• Steps to rebuilding your credit

• Identifying solutions to your current financial problems

• Developing a personalized savings/spending plan to help prevent future financial difficulties

• Danger of payday lending, car title loans, rent-to-own purchases

• Understanding debt consolidation loans

• Foreclosure Prevention Services, click here to view.

CASH Course: This is a free four-week program designed to teach people about money management, credit banking issues, identity theft and getting a loan.  The class sessions are taught by experts from several area agencies, including Operation Threshold.

• To view the CASH Course Brochure, click here.
• September 2009 CASH Course Flyer

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance:  This service is provided from late January through early March in Black Hawk Buchanan and Grundy counties.  Tax forms are prepared for free by trained volunteers for low-income families. This program promotes the use of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Program to help insure that low-income people are accurately receiving their income tax refunds.  We will be scheduling appointments for 2007 taxes, beginning in January 2008.  For more information, click here.

"Drop us a line before you sign. One bad loan and you could lose your home."

*There are no income limitations to this program, all are eligible, regardless of level of income. Home Buyer Ed and Post Purchase classes cost $20. All other classes offered through the program are free of charge.

For a downloadable brochure, click here.

(c) 2006. Operation Threshold. All rights reserved.