Success Stories
Kyle applied for his first loan with Tiwa Lending Services in 2018 for Christmas. We noticed on his credit report there was only one active account reporting to the credit bureaus. We educated Kyle that he is on a great path to credit building while providing information on understanding, building, and maintaining your credit report. Our loan will continue the path by building credit scores and creating payment history. He did have a minor issue in the “Derogatory” section but we let him know that our program could help him address it. He applied for another loan in July 2019, and was able to get more credit questions answered. He became interested in what other ways he could build credit and we provided him information on other safe lending options and ensure that creating a budget will also help maintain all expenses incurred. We have become a place where Kyle can have his credit questions answered and receive safe loan products.
Patricia applied for her first loan with Tiwa Lending Services in 2018 for Christmas. After pulling her credit report, we noticed that her only open credit was with a predatory lender. This lender also had a large payment which took 30% of her monthly retired income. We saw this as an opportunity to help Patricia and make her aware that we could help her payoff the predatory lender and our payment would be lower and less interest. She was interested and wanted to try it after the holidays. Patricia became serious and came back in May 2019 to pay off the high interest loan. After finalizing our loan terms, we were able to cut her payment in half and give her more in her pocket a month. Helping Patricia break away from the lender was a great accomplishment not only for her but for us as well. Late 2019, Patricia came back for a loan for tires and she was happy she could come to us for her needs. She did not open anymore credit with the previous lender and told them to not call her anymore.
Renay is an office manager for Perfect Teeth. Renay is a single mother with 3 children, two girls and one boy. Renay has been renting for five years. Renay contacted Tiwa Lending Services (TLS) about obtaining a loan to build her home for her growing family. For several months Renay worked with the staff of TLS. Miranda Lente (Homeownership Counselor) and Sheila Herrera (Executive Director) provided Renay with a homeowner action plan. Through this process Miranda guided Renay and her family on all the necessary steps to make themselves mortgage ready, including maintaining a budget, building a savings account, increasing her credit scores and planning for the responsibilities of homeownership. With a good lender on board, the family was able to build a 4-bedroom 2-bathroom home on the Isleta reservation with a one-time close loan from Tiwa Lending Services, the family was able to have a manageable house payment and a place to call their own. This home is the perfect place for Renay’s young family to live and grow. Owning a home is a source of pride and a sign of accomplishment for this determined mom.
Amberrose works as a family services worker for Pueblo of Isleta. “Buying a home was a great accomplishment for myself and my family. I now have stability. My home will be our safe haven,” Amberrose says. Amberrose has been working at Pueblo of Isleta for over two years and now that she has a stable job with benefits, she sought out to build a stable home for her and her daughter Leilani. Amberrose was living with her mom for years along with a combined family also living with them. At the age of 24 Amberrose decided to move out and rent a place for her and her family. They rented for a 1 ½ years before they decided to build their first home. Amberrose was referred to TLS’s annual Financial Education Classes, which she attended for 11 weeks. As a first-time homebuyer Amberrose felt the class was essential to understanding the entire home buying process. During the Financial Education Classes, she felt overwhelmed and thought the classes were intense and at times she felt stressed. After the class Amberrose worked with Miranda and Sheila at Tiwa Lending Services to develop a Homeowner Action Plan which outlined essential steps to financially prepare her for homeownership. Amberrose said, “I needed guidance”. Miranda and Sheila walked me through the whole process.” Amberrose also stated the process to obtaining a home on the reservation is very intense and requires the homeowner to be the middleman and to be very involved in the beginning process from the transfer of land to the obtaining of designs, infrastructures, and communicating with the contractor. Amberrose and her family are looking forward to living in their new 3-bedroom 2-bathroom home. They’re excited to landscape their yard and build a safe play yard for their family.
Jazmyn, like many others was intimidated by the world of credit, but she reached out to Tiwa Lending for help and better understanding. In October 2020, Tiwa Lending and Jazmyn had a Zoom Credit Counseling session. The first half of the session covered defining credit, types of credit, maintaining credit, accessing & understanding your credit report, consumer rights, and handling disputes. The second half of the session covered in-depth questions, creating a plan to establish credit, and reviewing affordability. After this counseling session Jazmyn felt more comfortable approaching her lending options which lead to opening a secured credit card and beginning the path of credit building. Being aware of the financial counselors to guide her, she continued to ask Tiwa Lending for credit information. Not only is great credit her goal, so is homeownership. Thanks to the time and effort Jazmyn has put in with Tiwa Lending she is in a better position to make an informed decision around lending and homeownership moving forward. After reviewing her credit report, Jazmyn was in the 600 range and can only grow from here with the knowledge provided by Tiwa Lending