Evergreen Financial Counseling

[Pages:52]Evergreen Financial Counseling

Online Lesson Guide

? Evergreen Financial Counseling 2013. All Rights Reserved.

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We are a non-profit credit counseling and educational provider approved by the US Trustees to offer pre-bankruptcy credit counseling and postbankruptcy personal financial management in compliance with the Bankruptcy Code.* The educational and training background of all our counselors either meets or exceeds standards of the US Trustees. All of our counselors have received Bachelors degrees from accredited universities and are trained and experienced in the credit counseling and personal finance arena. We are funded exclusively on the nominal fee for service charged to students and we do notpay or receive fees or other considerations for referrals, nor do our courses contain any commercial advertising. We do not promote, market, or sell any financial products, or solicit business of any type.We do not offer alternative payment schedules regarding unsecured debt, such as debt repayment plans. Participation in our courses will not impact a student's credit report in anyway.

Personal Financial Management: Our post-bankruptcy debtor education (personal financial management) course discusses the psychology of spending, how to make and keep financial goals, writing down a budget, debt warning signs, good vs. bad credit, financial safety nets, and consumer protection laws. After completion of this course, Evergreen Financial Counseling will provide a certificate of completion to you and attorney (if applicable)within one business day. Evergreen is obligated to provide your certificate after the completion of your course in a prompt manner. You will need to complete the entire course in order to receive a certificate of completion. If you require immediate delivery of your certificate of completion, please contact Evergreen via email or telephone.

Limited English Individuals: At this time, Evergreen Financial Counselings sessions and courses are only provided in the English language. All

? Evergreen Financial Counseling 2013. All Rights Reserved.

individuals with limited English proficiency will be referred to the US Trustee list of approved providers with more language options.

Payment: Our Credit Counseling and Personal Financial Management courses cost $39.99 for single/joint filers. We do not charge any additional fees for the generation of certificates of completion. We accept online or over the telephone debit, credit, and Paypal payments. Students can mail in check and money order payments to PO Box 3801 Salem Oregon 97302. We run promotional discounts in the form of coupon codes, so some of our students may pay less than $39.99. In addition, some of our students prepay with their attorneys as well, just ask your attorney if they are set up for this service.

Fees: The regular fee is $39.99. Evergreen Financial Counseling provides its services without regard to an individual's ability to pay.Individuals who have a household income of approximately 100-150% of the estimated poverty threshold for their applicable family size as updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services qualify for $15 off their course fee for a total of $24.99. Individuals who have a household income of approximately 100% and below the estimated poverty threshold for their applicable family size as updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services qualify for $25 off their course fee for a total of $9.99. Prior to taking their course, individuals can fax their request to 1(800)581-3513 or email their request to info@. They are asked to include their household income documentation. An individuals information will also be reviewed by an Evergreen Financial Counseling counselor during their credit counseling or personal financial management course, and if their household income qualifies them for a fee discount they will receive this discount. If an individual has any questions regarding fee discounts, they can call 1(800)581-3513 to speak with a counselor.

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Evergreen Financial Counseling uses extensive and sophisticated secure technology to protect your data and transmissions between you and Evergreen and Agencies participating in this website. Transmission between browsers and our web server is implemented using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. This technology requires an SSL-capable browser. Although Evergreen has taken these measures to ensure that your personal information is delivered and disclosed only in accordance with your instructions, Evergreen cannot and does not guarantee that the personal information you provide will not be intercepted by others and decrypted.

There are areas on our website where youll be asked to enter both personal and non-personal information. We DO NOT sell or share any personal information about you to or with any person or organization except as authorized by you, to participating Agencies, as set forth herein, or as may be required by law or court order. We use the information you provide to supply the US Trustees with the appropriate information needed to confirm youve completed your required counseling and/or education course. We might disclose debtor information to the United States Trustee in connection with the United States Trustees oversight of Evergreen, or during the investigation of complaints, during on-site visits, or during quality of service reviews. In addition, Evergreen Financial Counseling may disclose account or other personal information when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with Evergreen Financial Counseling's rights or property, other website users or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities.

You can review and change your personal information in an active account at any time. Just contact us at info@ for any such requests. Federal and state regulations may require that we store completed submissions for various periods of time. In order to comply with these regulations, we may be unable to delete information from our databases.

Changes to Privacy Policy: If we make a change to our Privacy Policy in the future that will affect how we treat your information, we will notify you by e-mail of the change to the extent such change is material. Otherwise, we will post such change at the website, and such change will be deemed to be effective 10 days from the date of such posting. In that instance, your ability to opt out of the new policy will be determined by applicable laws.

*Approval does not endorse or assure the quality of a Provider's services. The US Trustees have reviewed our credit counseling and Personal Financial Management courses but have neither reviewed or approved any other services offered by Evergreen.

BY USING ANY SUCH SERVICES YOU ARE ACKNOWLEDGING THAT YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THIS POLICY AND THAT YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ITS TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY, SIMPLY EXIT THIS PAGE WITHOUT ACCESSING OR USING OUR WEB SITE OR ANY OF OUR SERVICES.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on October 4, 2013

? Evergreen Financial Counseling 2013. All Rights Reserved.

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Welcome to your Personal Financial Management Course. Before we begin, lets cover a few housekeeping items.

Time: Expect this class to take approximately two hours. However, you are not required to finish in one sitting. Feel free to logout and login at your convenience.

Identity verification: Your class will randomly stop twice during this class and youll be required to log back in with your username, password, and mothers maiden name. While this may seem tedious, we are required by the U.S. Trustees to make sure youre there and paying attention.

Audio: This class will be read to you over the speakers on your computer. Please make sure the volume is turned on, and if you have external speakers, make sure they are plugged in. If you do not have audio on your computer, that is okay. You can simply read the course material instead. However, you will still need to press the play button at the top of each page and allow a few minutes for the unheard sound to play out.

? Evergreen Financial Counseling 2013. All Rights Reserved.

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Great! Now that we got those things out of the way, lets get started. You are listening to Evergreen Financial Counselings Personal Financial Management class. In the next two hours we will cover the following topics:

The Psychology of Spending

Writing a Spending Plan

Financial Personality Types

Financial Safety Nets

Needs vs. Wants

Wise Use of Credit

Financial Goals

Family and Finances

Net Worth

? Evergreen Financial Counseling 2013. All Rights Reserved.

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You may have recently declared bankruptcy. We at Evergreen Financial Counseling recommend embracing this decision and making the most of it. Decide to make your bankruptcy a turning point in your life. Up until now, you have traveled down a well-trodden road. For some, it was a path of financial crises without safety nets. There were insurmountable medical bills and losses of income. There were unexpected deaths, and difficult divorces. For others, it was a path of misunderstanding, ignorance, or unhealthy levels of risk. There was credit card spending, frivolous home equity mortgages, and living beyond your means.

Make the choice to turn off of this road, and set your course in the direction of financial security. Turn onto a road where you can find calm confidence. We will give you tips and ideas to help you along your way, but the most important thing we can do is encourage you to be brave. Be brave, and evaluate where you're at right now. Be brave, and evaluate where you want to go. As a wise man once said, "Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve" (W. Clement Stone).

? Evergreen Financial Counseling 2013. All Rights Reserved.

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There are many things you need to live. In Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, these are called Physiological Needs. They are air, food, water, and shelter. Without these things, you could not live, and as a result, much of your spending accounts for these needs. However, how you chose to spend for these needs is based on your values, or what is most important to you.

For example, you need food to live. But what do you eat? Where do you eat? Do you look closely at grocery store ads and buy items only when they are discounted? Or do you buy high, prioritizing organic and locally grown products? One is not better then the other. Your spending simply reveals your values, whether you realize it or not. If you and a friend were both given $50, would you spend it differently? Of course you would. People are different, and people have different ideas about what is important. The deep-seated beliefs you have about what is important and special are your values.

Values are formed from the beginning of childhood at home, at school, and in your community. All your life you have had and will have choices to make. Whether you know it or not, you make these choices based on your values. And your values are used when you have to choose how to spend your money.

? Evergreen Financial Counseling 2013. All Rights Reserved.

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Problems arise when your spending does not match your true values. This can happen easily if you aren't careful.

Let's say you are a typical family man or woman. You value family unity, and family security. You want to save money for your children's education. You want to save money for retirement. These represent your deep-seated beliefs and values.

However, you are now spending $500 a month on an expensive car payment and do not have enough left over to go towards savings. This car payment does not represent your true values. Instead, it represents the importance of image and the importance of rewarding yourself for your hard work.

We are not saying image or rewarding yourself is bad. It is the spending money on things that do not reflect your true values that doesn't work. When this happens, problems occur. You feel unsettled. You feel insecure. You have arguments with your partner about finances. It is important to analyze your current situation. Does your spending represent your deep-seated beliefs? If not, what do you need to change?

? Evergreen Financial Counseling 2013. All Rights Reserved.

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