From staff reports

A credit and home buying workshop will be held in the Brewton-area Monday, July 21 and Thursday, July 24. The workshop will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. and will be sponsored by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.
Topics that will be discussed will be: how a credit score is determined; what steps to take if information on your reports is not correct; how to stop harassing phone calls from creditors; steps to improve your credit score; plus a question and answer period; and tips to buying a home and financing.
Rick Zapata, principal investigator and grant administrator farm and ranch estate planning at Auburn University, will be conducting the workshop.
“The Alabama Cooperative Extension System is teaming up with the USDA Rural Development Department to present a two-part workshop on helping people in rural areas move from being renters to home owners,” Zapata said. “Cooperative Extension will present a workshop on repairing you credit score for the first workshop in which we will cover how a credit score is determined and the steps necessary to increase the score. We will also cover consumers rights under the new Fair Credit Reporting Act. A persons credit score will affect the interest rate for mortgage payments and increasing the score can reduce the monthly mortgage payment.”
Zapata said they will teach students how to set up a savings account that can be matched 2-1 that can provide the money needed for a down payment.
“This savings-matching program is called the Individual Development Account,” he said. “It is free money provided to help low income people become home owners. The USDA has special loan programs for this same group. By becoming home owners instead of renters, rural citizens will be able to build equity in a home and thereby be able to build wealth that can one day be passed onto their heirs. The Alabama Cooperative Extension System provides educational workshops for the public that brings information and training designed to improve their daily lives and standard of living. By teaming up with the USDA Rural Development Agency and the Individual Development Account Agencies, we will be able to provide both credit and financing information and connect students with the financing agencies to help these rural people become home owners.”
The workshop is free and open to public and will be held at the U.S.D.A Rural Development office located at 175 Ag-Science Drive in Brewton.
To register, please call 251-867-7760.
“People attending the workshops do not need to bring any paperwork,” Zapata said. “We will provide them with the information to apply for the different financial programs.”