Leanne B. was ready to be a homeowner. Down-payment in hand, she approached the mortgage officer at her local Cadence Bank in Winchester, Tennessee, ready to secure a mortgage.
“The mortgage officer pulled my credit and she immediately said, ‘I got to help you out,’” Leanne recounted. Leanne was initially taken aback because she thought that getting a loan would be straightforward. Today, she looks back at that conversation — and the introduction to Operation HOPE — and realizes that it was a life-changing moment for her.
Leanne’s new Financial Wellbeing Coach, Lester Watt, encouraged her to participate in the organization’s Credit and Money Management and Homeownership programs, where he worked with her to put this newfound knowledge into practice. Together, they completed a worksheet that detailed her income and expenses in order to create a budget. At the same time, they sought to eliminate her debt in a way that felt manageable. For Leanne, that was paying off the credit cards with the lowest balance first, and then working her way up to tackling debt on the higher balance cards.
“Each time I got new information from Lester, he’d tell me, ‘So the next time we meet up, you need to have XYZ done,’ and that’s what I did. Every time we met, everything he asked me to do, I did it,” she said. Lo and behold, Leanne saw her credit score rise by 121 points over 13 months. “When I say tremendous …it was tremendous,” she said.
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
At a time when purchasing a home is a stretch for most families, Leanne had confidence that she was on the right track to do so after Lester shared how he was able to personally achieve his financial goals.
“There’s a commercial and the slogan is ‘We actually live here.’ And that’s pretty much Operation HOPE. We’re actually living this way. Lester was transparent when he said, ‘On Sunday it’s Mother’s Day so I’ll take my mom out, but Monday through Thursday, I’m taking my lunch from home.’”
While making home-cooked meals was discussed as a money-saving tool, it spurred conversations with Lester about what this one act could mean for living a life of meaning.
“Slowing down and creating an atmosphere that makes you value home-cooked meals—it plays so much a part in daily living. It changed my life and my children’s too,” said Leanne.
Soon, she was looking at all aspects of her finances and deciding whether her purchases brought her joy or whether she was just buying things out of habit. “Is this something that I need now or this is something that I can do without?” was a question she found herself asking.
This wise approach to spending and managing debt gave Leanne a deep sense of contentment.
“When your credit is good, you live better. You’re not as stressed and it relieves all these things to where you have a stability feeling,” she said.
While her income hasn’t changed, her mindset has, which has given her life purpose.
“When you are financially stable, you have a greater appreciation for what you have. Look, I have a roof over my head, the lights are on, most of my needs are met so I like to see who I can take out to dinner. I may see someone who needs gas money or something and I’m in a position where I can do it,” she said.
In the summer of 2024, about 14 months since her first meeting with Lester, Leanne joyfully achieved her goal of homeownership. True to form, Lester continues to coach Leanne even though she has graduated from the Operation HOPE programs.
“After closing on my new home, I did a review with Lester and he told me not to go and buy furniture for every room straight away,” she laughed.