FHP is committed to assuring the privacy of individuals and/or families who have contacted us for assistance. We realize that the concerns you bring to us are highly personal in nature. We assure you that all information shared both orally and in writing will be managed within legal and ethical considerations. Your “nonpublic personal information,” such as your total debt information, income, living expenses and personal information concerning your financial circumstances, will be provided to creditors, program monitors, and others only with your authorization and signature on the Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Agreement. We may also use anonymous aggregated case file information for the purpose of evaluating our services, gathering valuable research information and designing future programs.
Types of information that we gather about you:
∗ Information we receive from you orally, on applications or other forms, such as your name, address, social security number, assets, and income;
∗ Information about your transactions with us, your creditors, or others, such as your account balance, payment history, partiesto transactions and credit card usage; and
∗ Information we receive from a credit reporting agency, such as your credit history.
Photo/Media
∗ I give Florida Home Partnership, Inc., permission to use a photograph and/or video of me for publication and/or promotional purposes. My signature below gives Florida Home Partnership, Inc authorization to use and publications required by grant funders. I release, hold harmless and waive all claims related to the publication and marketing materials.
*Release of your information to third parties:
FHP may disclose some or all of the information that we collect, as described above, to your creditors or third parties where wehave determined that it would be helpful to you, would aid us in counseling you, or is a requirement of grant awards which makeour services possible. We may also disclose any nonpublic personal information about you or former customers to anyone aspermitted by law (e.g., if we are compelled by legal process).
Within the organization, we restrict access to nonpublic personal information about you to those employees who need to know that information to provide services to you. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with federal regulations to guard your nonpublic personal information.
CLIENT/COUNSELOR AGREEMENT
Florida Home Partnership Inc and its counselors agree to provide the following services:
Development of a action plan
Timely completion of promised actions
Explanation of all knowledgeable homebuying process Identification of assistance resources
Referrals to needed resources
Confidentiality, honesty, respect and professionalism in all services
I/We, _______________________ agree to the following terms of service:
I/We will always provide honest and complete information to my/our counselor, whether verbally or in writing.
I/We will provide all necessary documentation and follow-up information within the timeframe requested.
I/We will be on time for appointments and understand that if we are late for an appointment, the appointment will still end at the scheduled time.
I/We will notify the agency within 6 hours of a scheduled appointment if I/we will be unable to attend an appointment.
I/We will contact the counselor about any changes in our situation immediately.
I/We understand that breaking this agreement may cause the counseling organization to sever its service assistance to me/us. THIS INCLUDES NOT PROVIDING THE REQUESTED INFORMATION IN A TIMELY MANNER.
I/We will understand that I must schedule an appointment in advance if I need further assistance and that I understand Florida Home Partnership Inc does not allow walk-in appointments.
HOLD HARMLESS AGREEMENT
I give Florida Home Partnership Inc permission to use my name in publications or reporting. Furthermore, because Florida Home Partnership Inc is a non-profit organization, I hereby release, hold harmless and waive all claims associated with these publications and marketing materials which I may have against the agency and its employees.
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Florida Home Partnership conducts the following counseling services: Pre-purchase Counseling, Home Maintenance and Financial Management, Financial Literacy Workshop, and Pre-purchase Homebuyer Education Workshops.
Pre-Purchase Counseling
The one-on-one counseling assists potential homebuyers seeking guidance on the home buying process. The objective is to prepare clients for homeownership by assessing their financial readiness and educating them on the process of purchasing a home and/or keeping it.
Home Maintenance and Financial Management
The one-on-one counseling assists clients in financial home maintenance and financial literacy to include preparing budgets and understanding of credit.
Financial Literacy Workshops
The workshop offers Financial Literacy to include home affordability, budgeting and understanding use of credit. The major topics covered— saving, credit, debt, reducing debt, increasing income
Pre/Post-purchase Homebuyer Education Workshops
The workshop is designed to educate and enable prospective homebuyers and/or owners to make informed choices, assess their readiness to buy or sustain the homebuying or homeownership process.
Counseling, Fees and No Steering Agreement
1. I understand the Florida Home Partnership Inc provides financial capability and mortgage readiness counseling/coaching, which I will receive an action plan, consisting of recommendations for handling my finances, including referrals to other agencies, as appropriate.
2. I understand that a credit report is necessary to effectively assess my financial situation and determine the best course of action. I understand that I am responsible for providing all requested documents at intake. Clients can obtain a FREE credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com or pay the credit report fee, which is a tri-merge report and at cost by the provider. THIS FEE MUST BE PAID AT OR PRIOR TO TIME OF COUNSELING APPOINTMENT VIA A LINK PROVIDED BY THE HOUSING COUNSELOR.
3. I understand the Florida Home Partnership Inc will close my case file after several attempts to communicate with me via email, telephone, and/or U.S. postal mail, and any & all fees paid are non-refundable.
4. I understand I am not obligated to utilize any of the services offered me and may be referred to other housing services offered by the agency or to an outside agency to assist with concerns that may have been identified.
5. Counselors may answer questions and provide information but will not give legal advice. If Iwant legal advice, the recommendation will be that I seek legal assistance from the appropriat eentities.
6. I understand that Florida Home Partnership Inc will not make referrals to specific agencies but will provide me with a list of at least three (3) agencies and I will make my own decision. I further understand that the housing counseling I receive does not oblige me to choose any of these loanproducts or housing programs.
7. I understand that Florida Home Partnership Inc receives grant funds (including, but not limited to,USDA-RD, HUD, Hillsborough County, Florida Housing Finance Corp), and may be required to submit client data related to grant activity and give consent to be contacted for purposes of grant oversight or program compliance.
8. I give permission for all grant/program administrators and/or their agents to follow-up with me within the next three (3) years for the purposes of program evaluation.
CREDIT REPORT AUTHORIZATION AND PRIVACY DISCLOSURE FORM
I hereby authorize and instruct Florida Home Partnership Inc. (hereinafter “FHP”) to verify information on my credit report and public records. My credit report will be obtained from a credit reporting agency chosen by FHP. I understand and agree that FHP intends to use the credit report for the purpose of evaluating my financial readiness to purchase a home and/or to engage in post-purchase counseling activities.
My signature below also authorizes the release to credit reporting agencies of financial or other information that I have supplied to FHP in connection with such an evaluation. Authorization is further granted to the credit reporting agencies to use a copy of this form to obtain any information the credit reporting agency deems necessary to complete my credit report.
I further approve FHP to forward a copy of my credit report, past and present employment records, bank accounts, stockholdings and any other asset balances that are needed to process my mortgage application to participating lending institutions such as, but not limited to, USDA-RD, Hillsborough County, Florida Housing Finance Corporation and any other mortgage institutions or home buyer agencies, for the purpose of obtaining a mortgage loan. I authorize the above-listed institutions to also provide my credit information to Florida Home Partnership Inc., as needed.
It is understood that a photocopy or facsimile of this form validates the borrower’s authorization. Information obtained from me is to be used in processing my mortgage application and subsequent control.
I hereby acknowledge that I am fully aware that falsifying information on my application to obtain a mortgage loan is a federal crime punishable by fine, or imprisonment, or both.
I understand that I may revoke my contract with these disclosures by notifying FHP in writing.
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