Ruth Morgan

Sandra Landrum lives in Section 8 housing in Bowling Green, but she doesn’t plan to stay there forever.

Someday, she’d like to own her own home.

&#8220I’m working on a credit report so I’d like to do it within the next year or year-and-a-half,” she said.

There was a time when Landrum, 52, didn’t have any idea of how to move toward her goal.

&#8220I don’t remember going through anything like this when I was in high school or grade school,” she said.

So, awhile back she took home ownership classes from Housing Assistance and Development Services, and in October and November she took Financial Fitness and Home Buyers Education workshops through the city, which is taking part in the Mayor’s National Dollar Wi$e Campaign. The campaign to educate the public about finances now includes the HANDS class and other financial education resources around town. It is a joint effort of the city, U.S. Bank and the Daily News.

Now, Landrum plans to take other free financial education classes as they become available, and she says she would encourage others who want to know more about how to make the most of their money to do the same.

&#8220I think it’s very important,” she said.

According to Carol McClure, a family counselor with Bowling Green Housing and Community Development, the Dollar Wi$e Campaign aims &#8220to target all ages, all income levels.”

&#8220We’ll even be involved with children ages 3 and 4” through programs discussing basic money matters at Community Action Head Start sites, McClure said.

At Girls Inc., there will be a 10-week program about starting a small business.

Other classes will include How to Finance with Little or No Money Down, How to Save on Homeowner’s Insurance, Why Use a Realtor? and Credit Reports: Why are They Important?

In December and January, the Dollar Wi$e Campaign will promote taking advantage of earned-income tax credit and child tax credit, McClure said. Fliers with details will be placed in day care centers, the food stamp office and other spots around town.

McClure hopes people will pay attention to the importance of taking advantage of those tax credits.

&#8220The IRS says there are millions of dollars that are unclaimed. That is extra money that will be coming into the community (if people take advantage of it) to help them buy a better car, that sort of thing,” McClure said.

Next month, McClure and experts from U.S. Bank and Kentucky Housing Corp. will begin working on a schedule of financial education seminars that will be advertised around town beginning in March.

But McClure is now willing to put schools, businesses, groups and even individuals in touch with experts who can provide special classes or just answer questions.

&#8220Contact us and we’ll try to help,” McClure said. &#8220U.S. Bank has been great about saying they’ll allow their employees to help us with this.”

Deborah Fish, who works in the licensing division for the city, said she would highly recommend seeking help from the experts, especially when it comes to learning to read your credit report.

She recently took a class on reading the point system on credit reports, which are free now, and said &#8220the class would be very good for college students obtaining their first credit card or young people hoping to establish their credit to own their first car.”

&#8220Taking this six months before could help them be ready when the time came,” she said.

And it could help you learn about how credit cards you haven’t even signed up for can affect your credit if you’ve been sent a pre-approved card and didn’t alert the sender that you didn’t want it.

Fish found out that her credit was affected by such cards when someone broke into her family’s home and &#8220we were dealing with identity theft,” she said.

&#8220Whether you think you have a problem with your credit or not – we’ve never had a problem – you need to check your credit often,” Fish said.

– For more information about financial education classes or information through the Dollar Wi$e Campaign, call McClure at 393-3630 or e-mail her at carol.mcclure@bgky.org.