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NOW- The Gant Family: Home Is Where the Heart Is

The Gant family takes a dip in savings but rises in credit score. Is their goal of owning their own home on the horizon?

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I won’t tell you that this has been an easy month because it has not. Despite this, I know that things will start looking up. There is a scripture that reminds me that trouble doesn’t last forever. So, as I reflect on this month, I keep in mind that even though things are not where I want them to be, I am still in a better position than I was before I started this life changing program.

I have kept up with my payments, ideas, and instruction from my advisor that I had from the beginning in reference to my credit card. I have done the research, footwork, and lessons on credit building and I am still doing them. There is even a workshop in Balance Pro, PenAir’s online partner in education, for first time home buyers. I am excited about the things I am learning in Balance Pro. I found that by being a first-time home buyer, I qualify for a lot of programs that will assist me in purchasing my first home.

My Money Management Tool is looking better and better each month and I am monitoring every penny that goes out of the house. My savings has dropped quite a bit, but I will get that back up as soon as humanly possible. I plan to finish this race strong.

We completed a Communerosity event at the Ball fields on 9-mile and my family had a blast with our advisor Ms. Amber Vickers. We will do our second event this Saturday. Something about giving back to the community makes me smile. I have even started back my pro-bono tutoring sessions. That is were each week I tutor one student pro-bono. It is my small way of giving back.

I do have some good news about my credit score. I paid off something on my credit report at the beginning of this event and two of the credit bureaus removed the item. I spoke with Ms. Vickers about it and she gave me some excellent guidance which I followed, to the letter. I received notice last week that the item was completely removed from my credit report. This has caused another spike in my score for all three bureaus. This is one thing that the Financial Lessons have taught me: If you begin your home buying process with a great score then you can get a better rate. It also states the higher your deposit the better rate as well. So, I entered the amount that I would like to save in the Goals tab on the Money Management tool and It was able to give me an estimated time in which I would reach my goal, given that I save a certain amount each month. I have other goals in the goals tab as well. It is a pretty neat tool to use when you are planning out your goals.

I end this blog by making a declaration and a decree that by my next blog, my family and I will have gone above and beyond where we are in our finances and our savings.

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