Kurtar Barlas

Three years ago Kurtar Barlas was a very worried man. He received threatening letters from credit card companies and was struggling to repay high interest rate debts.

A widower, Kurtar had stopped working to nurse his wife as she struggled with lung cancer. Now he was concerned that his social security money would be taken by the credit card companies. He turned to Urban Upbound for help with his financial worries after hearing about the Financial Fitness Program (FFP) from his housing department.

Today, Kurtar refers to his Urban Upbound financial counselor as his ‘guardian angel’ after she helped him solve his problems. She advised Kurtar on his rights and called the credit card companies on his behalf to negotiate a repayment plan he could afford. She also connected Kurtar to the Urban Upbound Federal Credit Union to manage his savings and obtain loans with favorable rates.

Urban Upbound not only helped Kurtar with managing his finances, but he has since received support updating his résumé and learning basic computer skills via Urban Upbound’s Workforce1 center. He is very grateful for the on-going support including the Thanksgiving Turkey he has received from Bishop Mitchell Taylor.

“Urban Upbound is a very good organization. They are always happy to help and I recommend them to everyone I know who needs help. They offer low interest rates which are much better than the banks,” says Kurtar, who is originally from Turkey.