Credit Counseling Services

Call Us:
(904) 209-0844

Or visit us:
900 State Road 16
St. Augustine, FL 32084

St Johns Housing Partnership Offers a number of services through its credit counseling office and Joy Bryant, its Credit Counselor. Joy's clients are prospective home buyers and current home owners facing foreclosure.

Foreclosure Intervention

SJHP's Foreclosure Intervention Loan Program is successful because of counselor Joy Bryant's negotiating skills. She is a certified foreclosure mitigation counselor - the only one in St. Johns County. In fact, FILP has one of the state's highest percentages of foreclosures averted. SJHP partners with St. Johns County Legal Aid on foreclosure. Says Megan Wall, managing attorney for Legal Aid, "Together we have substantially slowed down the homestead losses in our community." Click here to download our informational pamphlet if you are about to be or have been served foreclosure papers.

Prospective Home Buyers

For prospective home buyers the following services are available:

Credit Repair - Many people are unsure of what steps to take to repair bad credit and build good credit. Through the credit counseling services of the St. Johns Housing Partnership they learn what their FICO score is, how to manage and perhaps pay off any bad information in their credit file and how to begin to build a good solid payment history. This information helps them to attain a mortgage at a reasonable rate.

Financial Literacy - financial literacy includes going into rural areas and teaching St. Johns County residents topics like; What Is A Loan?, What Is A Mortgage?, What Resources Are Available? This gives people the skills to make informed financial decisions and avoid predatory lending.
Affordability Testing - client's budgets are evaluated to ensure that a home mortgage will be tailored to their total financial picture.
Monthly Homebuyer Education - Most down payment assistance programs require clients to attend a class covering many aspects of buying a home. The classes are part lecture, overheads, outside speakers, and question-prompted discussion.
Application Assistance - the St. Johns Housing Partnership assists people in understanding and navigating through the programs available to them such as SHIP, HAP and HOP.
Budgeting - a prospective home buyer is taught how to manage a budget and given forms to fill out that will help them understand where their weekly / monthly income goes. This ensures that the prospective home buyer can make an informed decision on the amount of mortgage they can afford.

Current Home Owners

For current home owners the following services are available:

Foreclosure Mitigation
Budgeting - a client is taught how to manage a budget and given formsto fill out that will help them understand where their weekly/ monthly income goes. This helps stabilize a family budget that can be stressed by items such as late fees, cell phone bills, overdraft fees, etc. "In three to six months I can usually get clients to where they can breathe again," says Bryant.

Credit Counselor Joy Bryant

Officially, Bryant is a Foreclosure Mediation Counselor through certification by NeighborWorks. She negotiates for clients with credit and collection agencies, lenders, and lawyers, which can be challenging. Bryant notes:

"Always better to help clients before lawyers or the courts get involved. Judges can't easily reverse judgements."

When a client faces foreclosure, "It's like a death to lose their home," says Bryant who grieves with them.

The St. Johns Housing Partnership partnership works with St. Johns County Legal Aid to help with foreclosure intervention where necessary.

Funding for services provided by grants from:

NeighborWorks America

St. Johns County
Legal Aid

Florida Housing
Finance Corporation


	P.O. Box 1086 · St. Augustine, FL 32085 · 904-824-0902 · info@sjhp.org