SOUTH PORTLAND — For Mary Aubele, one of the favorite aspects of her job as a financial counselor is helping people going through a tough time — often a bankruptcy.
It’s important to show empathy to people trying to get their finances in order, she said.
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Important, yes, but not always easy. At least, not for me.
As I sat and listened to Aubele conducting a credit counseling session over the phone with a couple in Texas — a man in his late 40s and a woman in her early 50s — I was thinking, “Are these people for real?”
Lucky for me, I was listening to the call on headphones and could not be heard.
Aubele, a financial counselor with the nonprofit Institute for Financial Literacy on Western Avenue, was calm and cool as she talked to the couple for some 90 minutes. She found out, among other things, that they made $1,000 a month and that their basic expenses — including a mortgage of $625 a month and a truck payment of $225 a month — were more than they could afford.
They also had trouble understanding Aubele’s questions when she asked them if they were aware of potential pitfalls like “predatory lending.”
But mostly, she tried to help them in terms they could understand.
“Have you applied for food stamps or energy assistance?” Aubele, 48, asked the couple.
“Can we do that?” the woman replied.
“I’d think with an income of $1,000 a month, you could be eligible. It might help you with your food costs, or other costs.”
Aubele then quickly called up a database of help agencies in Texas, and gave the couple some phone numbers they could call to see if they qualified for food or energy assistance.
Although I found myself shaking my head at times during that call, I later realized I am not exactly a genius when it comes to financial literacy, either.
COUNSELING ONLINE, IN PERSON
At one point during my visit, I took a financial literacy quiz consisting of 25 questions that the institute gives to people for research purposes.
I just barely passed, with a score of 72. I don’t have a good handle on what discretionary expenses, term life insurance and investments are, I found.
I thought I did, but I didn’t.
But that’s the whole point of the Institute for Financial Literacy — that a lot of people could use help managing their personal finances and living a lifestyle that keeps them out of debt.
The nonprofit organization, which is run out of an office near the Maine Mall, has a goal of making financial literacy education available to everyone. So it conducts research, runs educational programs and helps groups who want to spread financial literacy.
Plus, the nonprofit offers services such as credit counseling to individuals. People who have filed for bankruptcy are required to take a financial counseling course from an approved organization, said IFL Executive Director Leslie E. Linfield, so that is a big part of what the organization does.
For a fee of $50, people can take the required counseling course, either online or via telephone with a counselor like Aubele.
NEEDED: EMPATHY, PROFESSIONALISM
When I sat down with Aubele in her cubicle on a recent morning, surrounded by lots of other counselors taking calls, she immediately got a call from a bankruptcy lawyer in Indiana and his client.
They were calling for a certificate to prove they took the online counseling course.
Aubele called up what seemed to be a dozen different documents and files on her computer — adding information, verifying information and checking to make sure they had filled in every line of the household budget they were supposed to fill out.
While she did this, the lawyer and his clients could be heard talking loudly on speakerphone about lots of other things.
I found it very distracting, but Aubele didn’t seem bothered. When she needed to ask them a question, she said, “Excuse me” and “I appreciate your patience.”
Later, while doing the counseling session with the Texas couple, is when Aubele really had to be patient. She told me she worked in customer service before taking this job three years ago, and prided herself on being professional and empathetic at the same time.
She had to explain things about credit reports, IRAs, net worth and credit card companies.
She had to repeat herself a lot, and a few times had to make sure that both people were in the room listening to her, as they are required to be.
She took her time making sure the couple understood that after coming out of bankruptcy, it was likely they’d get more credit card offers because credit card companies know they can’t file for bankruptcy again for a certain period of time. She also explained what a secured credit card is, and how having one might help them build credit.
At first, they were responding to Aubele with answers like “I have no idea” or “What is that?” But about halfway through, they seemed to get that she was only trying to help them.
“You may be attractive to predatory lenders, so make sure you just discard those offers when you get them,” said Aubele.
“Yes, ma’am,” the man and woman answered.
Staff Writer Ray Routhier can be contacted at 791-6454 or at:
rrouthier@pressherald.com
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