Latoria Williams Promotes Financial Literacy Among Borrowers

Latoria Williams, CEO of 1FirstCashAdvance Financial Help, LLC, is one of the female leaders that make a lasting impression due to their skills, vision, and impact on their communities. Ms. Williams' active involvement in promoting financial literacy started from the need to educate people before they apply for a loan. The payday lending industry focuses on providing emergency loans. When an applicant is desperately looking for emergency payday loans, they are not typically interested in all the loan details or learning about a potential alternative. Financial education thus becomes crucial prior to the application process. Latoria Williams partnered up with other organizations involved in educating the community and added her contribution to informing the general public about their loan options, safety measures, and free financial counseling. As a result, the CEO was able to fine-tune the company's products to better serve its potential customers.

Through 1FirstCashAdvance, applicants may opt for one of the two products: short-term cash advances or cash till payday loans and payday installment loans. These products served Latoria Williams as a starting point for her social education project.

The first two rules a community had to learn where to see the bigger financial picture and avoid getting themselves trapped into a spiral of debt. A broader view of a potential customer's financial state can reveal the loan they need, as opposed to the one they want. For instance, if a person has challenging upcoming projects, it makes more sense to improve their credit score and borrow from a bank or a credit union. A common mistake is getting several payday loans instead, which makes it hard for the borrower to pay back their debt.

Responsible borrowing was another concept the program beneficiaries had to grasp. Planning how you will repay your loan is more important than getting approval. With short-term debt, it's essential to orchestrate all expenses so that you repay the lender fast and avoid additional fees and reports that affect your credit. Ms. Williams was surprised at how many people found out about this approach through the program, saying that they used to go along with their expenses and hope for the best.

Other than organizing workgroups to educate the community to deal with their financial matters, Latoria Williams allocated time to communicating with lenders. According to her, 1FirstCashAdvance constantly raises its standards in terms of customer service. For that reason, it is crucial for the company to only cooperate with lenders that follow the same ethical principles, prove extensive industry knowledge and can educate new customers and help them make the right choice.