For current info please visit detroitmi.gov
City, partners launch new Land Contract Buyer Guide to assist Detroiters on path toward homeownership
For current info please visit detroitmi.gov
The Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) offers professional, one-on-one financial counseling as a free public service to enable residents to address their financial challenges, needs, and plan for their futures. The FEC is in partnership with the City of Detroit, Wayne County Treasurer’s Office and Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency.
Residents receive free, one-on-one professional counseling assistance with money management, budgeting, reducing debt, establishing and improving credit, connecting to safe and affordable banking services, building savings, and referrals to other services and organizations.
FEC Counselors can help you:
Professionally trained counselors support their clients in navigating complex financial challenges and choices, helping them identify and meet present challenges and future ambitions. Counseling services are integrated into other social services including housing and foreclosure prevention services, workforce development, prisoner reentry, benefits access, and more.
All counseling services, including credit report analysis, is free of charge. There are no income limits or residency requirements. Interpreting and translation services are available upon request.
The Detroit Financial Empowerment Center is funded by the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund, JPMorgan Chase, Wayne County Treasurer’s Office, and the Skillman Foundation.
Schedule your free, one-on-one, financial counseling session by calling 313-322-6222 or scheduling online!
The FEC call center is open Monday through Friday, 9 am until 4:30 pm.
Due to COVID-19, all counseling sessions are conducted via phone or video conferencing.
Your first session will last 60 minutes, longer if you attend as a couple. In the first session, the client and counselor will complete a thorough Financial Health Assessment. This assessment captures demographics, service plan interest, financial health (income, spending, assets), financial services (usage, costs, and possible needs), and debt assessment (liabilities, costs, payment ratios, creditors, etc.), if applicable.
After the Financial Health Assessment, the client and counselor will decide which service plan or plans best fits the clients needs. These service plans are: Reducing Debt, Establishing/Improving Credit, Increasing Savings, and Access to Banking. Creating a budget is part of all service plans, and a free credit report will be provided to every client, unless they opt out.
What to bring, not mandatory, but helpful:
FEC Counselors are trained and certified in accordance with the requirements and competencies detailed in the FEC Model Counselor Training Standards. FEC Counselors are employees of Wayne Metro.
City, partners launch new Land Contract Buyer Guide to assist Detroiters on path toward homeownership
You can meet with counselors as many times as needed. There is typically a two-week period between appointments, but this timeline is based on your needs.
The Detroit Financial Empowerment Center counselors provide individual, one-on-one, counseling. The initial session will take approximately 1 hour. These sessions are not done in a group setting.
Counselors are trained and certified through the Cities for Financial Empowerment (CFE) Fund curriculum. They are required complete the training course and pass the certification exams.
Detroit Financial Empowerment Center representatives can conduct presentations to groups interested in learning more about the counseling process. Please contact Chelsea Neblett, Financial Empowerment Manager, at [email protected].
Counseling sessions are done at FEC centers. Counselors can conduct phone sessions if we are able to collect signatures on the disclosures before the initial session.
The first session will take between 1 hour to 1.5 hours. Each additional session can take 30 minutes to 1 hour.
You are not required to bring any documentation for the first session. However, documents such as your ID, paystubs, account statements, bills and other relevant financial documents are always helpful.
You can discuss any financial situation with a counselor. The counselor will work with you to develop a budget, create a plan of action based on your needs, follow up with you to discuss your progress, and make referrals when necessary. The main focus will be decreasing debt, increasing savings, repairing credit and access to safe and affordable banking products.
Services at the Financial Empowerment Center are always free. Counselors will meet with a client, review their current financial situation, and review the credit report and score.
Building stronger financial futures for Detroit residents