Q: How did you get involved with The HELP Program?

Victoria: I am a pharmacy technician and recently moved up here from California. We met online, started going out, got married, decided we wanted a house and we were looking around. We were kind of looking in the Boise area, but everything out there is kind of ridiculously priced. So, we were just looking a lot through the ads and we came across an ad in the paper that said “The HELP Program. If you make such and such amount, $45,000 a year or something like that, and are looking for a house, we can help. Call us.” So, I did and he told me a little bit about how the program works and I told my husband. He said, “Well, let’s call and see.” So we went in for an orientation and it sounded really good so we went ahead and hooked up with it and got a house.

Rick: I work for the optical lab at the hospital and I’ve lived up here for ten years. I had a bunch of medical stuff so I ended up doing a bankruptcy, that’s kind of why we entered into the program. Otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to do it financially. So, we’re going to get our credit stuff worked out and get our score back up so we can buy the house.

Q: Tell me about the process of finding a house and getting set up with the real estate agent?

Rick: We first spoke with the General Manager.  He was great. He answered all the questions we had and really made me feel more at ease through the process.

Victoria: He is very nice to people and made us feel like he was really genuine and interested in getting us a house. He told us, “It is possible,” when we were like, “We don’t know if we can do it.”

Rick: I’ve always been thinking because of a bankruptcy I’d feel like an idiot, but he didn’t make me feel bad about it all. It was an awesome deal to go through. Especially in the position that we were in, now we’re in a house.

Q: In deciding to go through The HELP Program were there any concerns or skepticisms that crossed your mind?

Rick: I think we were both thinking it was too good to be true that somebody would actually be out there willing to help us get into a house. At first we were asking what’s the catch.  But there wasn’t one.  We are in a house.  We know exactly what our payments are and what we can buy the house for as soon as our credit scores are ready. 

Q: How effective do you feel The HELP Program has been thus far?

Rick: It got us into a house, we feel pretty good about that. We’ve gotten a lot of paperwork from the credit management people. I guess we’re just waiting to hear back about the stuff we disputed on our credit report.

Victoria: The credit repair team were really thorough in telling us about what they were going to do and how it was going to happen, what is a credit score, what affects it which we didn’t know. We went in and they told us about all that and made sure we knew what we needed to in order to make it through this program.

Rick: When I was looking at buying a house myself a year after the bankruptcy, I went in and was trying to clean up my credit and that was a pain to try and do it on your own. It was like pulling teeth. You couldn’t get anybody to respond. I got some of the stuff removed, but some of the stuff that was supposed to be removed wasn’t.

Q: What do you like best so far about your experience with HELP and is there anything you would improve?

Victoria: Well, the think I like best is that it was so easy. They are very open about when they can help us own the house. The only thing I think I would improve is a little bit more of what we do next.

Rick: Maybe a list of expectations after you put a bid on the house.

Q: If you had a friend thinking about going through HELP, what would you tell him or her?

Rick: I told one of my coworkers about it. He had a bankruptcy and some other credit issues. I told him to give you a call and I gave him a copy of the card so that he can. I would definitely recommend it to any of my friends. I have another friend that just went through some credit problems and is looking to buy a house. I’m going to talk to him about it. To me it’s worth it if you have credit issues. It’s a win-win situation. We get our credit repaired and get into the house we want and you guys make a little bit of money too. I guess that’s why it feels too good to be true because we get a house and get our credit fixed and you guys benefit too. It’s been a really good experience and we’ve been really happy with it.