President Bush turned 60 Thursday. If he’s wondering what to do in the years after he leaves office, he might take some ideas from the finalists for the Purpose Prize, a new award that recognizes older Americans who start innovative projects aimed at helping others.Robert Chambers is one of the 15 prize finalists. He’s a 61-year-old former car salesman in Lebanon, N.H., who decided he wanted to help low-income car buyers after watching scores of them get scammed by car dealers.
“When I worked in the car dealership I got sick and tired of watching low-income individuals get taken advantage of,” Chambers said.
Chambers now runs a nonprofit organization that arranges low-interest-rate auto loans and provides financial-education workshops for low-income people.
Often, their lack of good credit forces them to buy from car lots selling older used cars at steep profits. And, Chambers said, low-income people routinely pay steep interest rates on their auto loans. “Every week we see people that are paying 25%.”
Since 2001, Chambers’ nonprofit venture — Bonnie CLAC (for “car loans and counseling”) — has put new cars into the hands of 750 low-income people, all of whom also went through personal-finance classes.
Terry on July 16th, 2006 at 8:39 pm
Great to see someone help out those people who have trouble handling their personal finances. It’s hard to imagine people paying 25% on a loan.
I recently built a website for a car dealership that caters to bad credit applicants. Because I handle the database for the application forms, I see how badly some people mess up their finances.
Why don’t they teach responsible money management in highschool?
-Terry