Jumpstart Program - CA Duluth
Jumpstart is a program designed to help lower-income people (under 200% federal poverty guideline) gain and maintain reliable vehicles on low-interest rate loans. It serves people with a focus on families that have enough income to support a car loan, but have less than ideal credit and/or knowledge around purchasing a vehicle.
Participants work with a Financial Coach to determine their vehicle needs and their financial capacity to afford a car loan, full coverage insurance, and other costs inherent in owning a vehicle. This includes going through income, expenses, budgeting, and looking through assets and debts. The focus is to ensure that people are able to afford the car and that it is not more of a burden than an asset for at least the length of the loan.
Participants pick out a vehicle with the Transportation Coach at a qualified dealership who performs thorough inspections and provides vehicle history reports. The focus for picking out a car is newer, lower miles, and better miles per gallon. The guidelines can change slightly to accommodate specific participant needs but in general vehicles are 5 years old or newer, under 75,000 miles, and purchase price of $8000-$12,000. All participants approved from the program get 5% interest rate loans with built-in repair and maintenance accounts which they contribute $20 per month. The Transportation Coach remains a resource for participants for the life of their loan and helps them work with the credit unions if anything comes up that affects their ability to stay current on their loan.
Find us at:
WEBSITE : https://www.communityactionduluth.org/