Spotlight on Members  . . . . Doreen Hoffman

04/18/2013

UofM's Ross Business School Orgstudies Class Hosts Debt Lecture

BY WILL GREENBERG    (www.michigandaily.com/blog/wire/orgstudies-class-hosts-debt-lecture)

Business senior Federico Ruiz, a student in a 200 level Organizational Studies course, hosted an event to inform students with college loans about the precautions they should take dealing with creditors.

The event was attended by roughly 20 people and featured Doreen Hoffman, CEO and managing partner of Trott Recovery Services, a Troy, Mich.-based debt collection law firm. Hoffman shared advice and “horror stories” in dealing with debtors. She stressed that as students start to tackle their debt, they need to communicate with creditors.

“There’s a lot of people graduating and there’s a lot of people who really can benefit from this information,” Ruiz said. “It’s important to really understand, one, your rights that you have but understand the information and resources you have to have a good footing to go out into the world.”

Hoffman said the banking industry has predicted student loans as the next financial crisis as more and more people have needed loans. She said trying to pick a career earlier and not taking unnecessary classes can help to reduce the long-term costs.

“I have a paralegal in my office who got his first degree in architecture and now he’s going back for his second in accounting,” Hoffman said in an interview after the lecture. “If maybe he’d kind of thought about it a little bit maybe that would’ve not been the decision to do at that time.”

Hoffman also discussed how to best deal with debt collectors and said, despite what many people believe, creditors are trying to help. She said communication with the bank can result in major reductions in payments, and that banks don’t want to see people struggle.

“If we can sign somebody up on a car loan at 7.9 percent, great. And if we know it’s going to be paid? Wonderful. Because, you know what, when it goes into default it costs money,” Hoffman said. “It’s actually good for the bottom line to have educated consumers entering into smart deals.”

LSA sophomore Pedro Cooper said Hoffman’s lecture helped him realize the importance of organizing a budget as well as his rights as a debtor.

“I think that’s a major issue with people and debt,” Cooper said. “When they get in a lot of debt and it gets out of control they get scared and they want to run from it.”

Making a Difference . . . . FEATURING Lynn Ryan 

03/28/2013

Our coalition has benefited tremendously from the generous dedication of this fine lady. She has taken charge of the Junior Ambassador Contest for several years. Through this effort, middle school students have demonstrated their understanding of various personal finance topics.

In addition, Lynn has chaired our Money$mart Library book committee. The Michigan Jump$tart Coalition has presented nearly two dozen collections of personal finance-related books in schools across the state. Few people understand the commitment that such a library requires. Just think . . . making school contacts, setting a presentation date, ordering & securing the books, creating, printing and pasting the donor labels in the books, THEN organizing instructions for volunteer presenters, creating and printing certificates for the recipient schools AND finally, presenting the donated library!

Lynn is a consultant and co-owner of Harmony Financial Network and has spent many years in the field with students from 3 year old through adults teaching financial literacy in schools and the non-profit world. Lynn is a former elementary teacher and account executive in the business world.

Need we say more? She’s a gem and deserves to be recognized and Jump$tart is grateful to have her as part of our team! Thanks Lynn for all you do to promote financial literacy in our state.