Education & Counseling

GECU Community Development offers free financial education and counseling to help you achieve financial independence. We can help you budget, receive home purchase assistance and get out of debt.

Your financial freedom starts here

Don’t have time to attend one of our free financial seminars? View our free financial education videos in English and Spanish.

Education:

Pre-purchase home buying
Post-purchase homeownership
Credit & Budget Counseling
Financial Education & Fair Housing Practices
Participants will receive certification of completion at end of 8-hour course

HUD Housing Counseling Program Services include:

Pre-purchase home buying
Post-purchase (non-delinquency)
Foreclosure prevention
Credit & Budget counseling

Other Community Development Services:

Home purchase assistance-Down payment and/or closing cost
Foreclosure prevention assistance
Free tax preparation

GECU Community Development is the recipient of a housing counseling grant from the Office of Housing Counseling, a division of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Although GECU offers a variety of financial products and services, these remain separate from the Housing Counseling Program. Participants are not obligated to use GECU products or services to participate in the Housing Counseling Program.

The Home Purchase Assistance Program is on a first-come, first-served basis and is subject to credit qualification, income criteria and periods of affordability. The program is part of an NSPII grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. To be eligible for the program, household income must be at or below 120 percent of area median. (For example, in 2018, to receive up to $26,500 in home purchase assistance and up to 3% of purchase price in settlement costs, a family of four could have gross income of $67,800 to be eligible at 120% of median income.) The homeownership assistance amount also includes a minimum period of affordability determined by the amount of assistance a borrower receives: 5 years for up to $15,000, 10 years for over $15k to $40k, and 15 years for over $40k. To be eligible, the borrower must attend a four-day Homeowner Workshop (FHE) from a HUD-approved housing counseling agency, attend an NSPII orientation at EPAH, and must pay a minimum of 3% of purchase price for down payment. Other conditions may apply: this is a collaborative community-development initiative supported by GECU, El Paso Credit Union Affordable Housing, El Paso Affordable Housing and other community partners.
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