Novice financial counselors may be nervous about how to structure their initial meetings with members. This outline can be used to help you get started.
What To Do What To Say
(provided in blue type) (provided in green type)
Before the First Session:
Set a specific time and place to meet.
Ask the member to bring along a pay
stub, monthly bills, and information
about their debts, if desired.
Encourage the member to call as early
as possible if they need to reschedule.
Session 1
Greet the member. Go beyond the basic
greeting to grasp their hand in a
“two-handed handshake” to begin to
build a sense of personal trust.
“Good morning, Mr. Olson. My name is --------. How are you today?”
Make sure the member is comfortable.
“Can I get you coffee or water?”
Explain your role as a financial counselor,
including credit union policies for sharing
information and protecting confidentiality.
Develop this material to reflect the policies
and practices at your credit union.
Find out what they are here to accomplish.
Determine their major goals.
“What do you want me to do for you?”
Acknowledge their concerns,
then hone in on specific issues by
using questions that contain “who, what, where,
when, why or how.”
“You tell me that you’re tired of
fighting with your family about money. Can you tell me what causes you to fight? When do these fights
happen? What prompts them?
Address financial habits, including
who handles the money, whether any adult
members of the household have special
problems with money, and other issues. “Who pays the bills in your household? How did you come to
that decision?”
Find out whether they have control
of their financial situation.
“Do you ever feel like your
finances are out of control?
What causes those feelings?”
Discover whether there are financial
needs that must be dealt with
immediately. Issues include creditors,
foreclosure, eviction, lack of food, or
other basic necessities.
“How urgent are your financial
needs today? Is there anything
that absolutely must be dealt
with right now?”
Depending on the nature of their problem,
refer the member to other sources of
assistance (see Module 4 for details).
NOTE: Some counselors prefer to end the first
session here, sending the member home
with budget forms to complete. Others start
working on the forms with members during
the first session, then send them home to
brainstorm for ideas and information.
Analyze the member’s financial situation.
“The first step for us is to take
a good look at your finances to
figure out where the money is
coming from and where it’s
going to.”
Figure out where their money – their
income – comes from. Remember, the pay
stub helps by providing seven types of
information: base income, overtime
pay, tax withholding, contributions for
benefits or flexible spending accounts,
401 (K) contributions, garnishments,
and child support.
“Let’s take a look at your pay stub.
Here’s what it can tell us….”
Find out what other resources the
member has. “Do you have any other sources of income? People often forget some
of the income they get throughout
the year. Your income tax return is the first example. How much is that?
Can you think of any other examples?”
Complete the budget analysis,
starting by showing the member the form.
“The next step in this process is to figure out where your money is going. This is the budget analysis form that we’re going to use to figure out how much it costs you to live, day to day, month to month, and year to year.”
Go through the form line-by-line.
Remember to focus on the future, not the past.
“Let’s keep the focus on the future.
What does it really cost to meet
your needs at current prices, given the way you live right now?”
If the opportunity arises, begin discussing
the difference between wants and needs
with members. “As we go through this list, we might want to put a star by some items
that we could let go to save some
money that could be used to
repay debt or saved for emergencies.”
After the budget is completed, subtract
the total from the member’s earnings.
“This is the difference between what
you earn and what you need to live.
That difference is what’s available
to pay down your debts and save
for emergencies and other needs.”
Explain that capturing the money in that
“gap” requires a spending plan.
“What happens with most people
is that we fritter away that money
because we don’t plan ahead. Instead
of budgeting for our ‘fun money’ to
keep from overspending, we assume
that we can spend whatever is in our
pocket. The problem is that then we
often don’t have enough money to
pay those big bills, like the car insurance or the doctor. A spending
plan can help you match your income to expenses so you have a
steady flow in your budget, instead
of highs and lows.”
Continue to work with the member to
Develop ways to deal with spending,
Savings, and debt repayment…
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