Sussex agency helps solve credit, mortgage woes

Shown at the grand opening are (l-r) Rony Peralta; Carlos Herrera, housing clinic director; Angus; Diana Bernal, credit clinic director; Rashmi Rangan, DCRAC executive director; and Jenna Fenstermacher, clinic coordinator-Public Ally.

DCRAC opens office in Georgetown

Title and payday loan officers and pawn shops in Sussex County – look out. Sussex County now has an office where Cape Region residents can learn to fix their credit, hold onto their homes and even dust off their resumes – all free of charge.

The Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council Inc. (DCRAC) opened a Georgetown office on Tuesday, Oct. 27, in the Georgetown Professional Park – an appropriate location next to the county’ social security and unemployment offices.

Founded in 1987, DCRAC aims to educate and advocate for equal treatment of under served populations when it comes to obtaining credit. Largely based on outreach, the council helps people become responsible and educated consumers through educational seminars on budgeting, credit counseling and first home-buyer advice. With two offices in Kent and New Castle counties, DCRAC executive director Rashmi Rangan said, a Sussex County office was long overdue. Plus, all clinic directors speak both English and Spanish. Rangan said because of the demand in Sussex County – parts of which have some of the highest foreclosure rates in the state – DCRAC decided to set up shop. Foreclosures are now creeping east toward Rehoboth, Lewes and Bethany. Although the nonprofit agency is designed to help low-income residents, Rangan said she is seeing more and more eastern county residents who need DCRAC’s services.

“The landscape is changing. I never dreamed I would see people needing help holding onto their homes with $150,000 mortgages,” she said. On Monday, a tax clinic helps residents tidy up their income tax problems. On Tuesday, a credit clinic helps residents repair their credit and learn to budget. On Thursday, a housing clinic helps first-time homebuyers and those facing foreclosure.

“Today, a half a million dollar mortgage is not unheard of. We’re seeing these people face foreclosure. These are people we never considered for our traditional clients,” said Rangan. “I fear this economic climate is only going to get worse. Our services in Sussex County are needed more than ever,” she said.

For more information, call 1-877-825-0750, or visit: dcrac.org.

Tags: budget, credit, Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council Inc., foreclosure, Sussex County