Debt/financial counselor near Philly? Bonus: Korean-speaking
February 22, 2019 8:25 AM   Subscribe

We'd like to set my in-laws up to meet/work with a debt counselor or other FA advisor who can help them figure out a plan to deal with their financial problems. Does anyone have a recommendation in the Philadelphia PA area? (Korean-speaking would be ideal but is not 100% critical)

Hi folks. My in-laws have unfortunately gotten themselves into some significant cashflow/debt problems. My husband and I have tried to help both financially and with planning, but at this point we'd like to set them up with at least a session (potentially a longer relationship if that exists?) with a debt counselor, for which we would pay.

Basically there is mortgage debt for a McMansion, possibly a second mortgage (!!), at least 1 but possibly 2 HELOC debts (!!!), plus significant credit card and other personal loan debt. FIL is retired and drawing social security, and MIL is still working at a small business that she owns. There is also a small, paid-off apartment and two paid-off cars; MIL's small business has negligible assets.*

They are in the Philly area. Both speak English but are much better Korean speakers (and of course there's a whole layer of cultural stuff which it would be nice if the FA already was experienced with).

Husband and I would likely be available to attend at least the initial session.

Any recommendations -- or recs on how to find someone -- would be really helpful!

*These specifics are more to give a sense of scope/range of what a debt counselor would be dealing with than for what-to-do advice -- WE know what we would need to do in his shoes, and what we would counsel them to do.

But FIL is a typical older Korean man -- getting accurate information from him has been extremely difficult (we never hear anything about finances until suddenly there's an emergency loan request, didn't even tell MIL about a lot of this, etc). And culturally there's clearly a layer of shame and difficulty in him taking advice from his kid. So we are hoping that having an "authority" work with him will yield better results than us just trying to help ... and also, of course, a financial professional would know the options better and might be able to help them keep ... I dunno, something.
posted by alleycat01 to Work & Money (4 answers total)
 
Does your spouse speak/read Korean? If so, you all might want to find someone through newspaper classifieds, etc.

Here's the Korean Phila Times and their back issues.

Here's a forum (that still looks active): philaKorean.com

Perhaps the Korean Community Development Services Center may know someone.

Or the The Korean American Association of Greater Philadelphia, which despite their old school website, looks like is still meeting regularly.
posted by suedehead at 8:56 AM on February 22, 2019


But also: the Korean community in Philadelphia might be pretty small (or feel pretty small) and everyone might know each other.

If shame and difficulty is an issue, there may actually be an advantage to working with someone who isn't Korean.

You should ask your FIL/MIL about it.
posted by suedehead at 8:58 AM on February 22, 2019


The nonprofit I work for has an affiliate (PCCA) that provides homeowner counseling, but they only work in Philly proper. They are reputable and, if you call them, they may be able to provide a referral for the County in which your folks live.

From a quick google search, AHCOPA, may be able to provide help outside of the City itself. I can't vouch for them, but they are members of NHRC, which also may be able to help.
posted by qldaddy at 9:00 AM on February 22, 2019


GreenPath was recommended at least twice on MetaFilter. When I was looking for support for someone who was struggling and had no idea of their budget or where to start, they were really nice and helpful even though I thought the person did meet their criteria (they could still help!)
posted by metahawk at 11:04 PM on February 22, 2019


« Older Great contemporary movie soundtrack albums   |   How do we survive a kitchen remodel? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.