AUBURN – City officials discovered something about many first-time homebuyers when they offered financial assistance last year.

Their credit stinks.

“We had plenty of people sign up for the programs, but many of them just couldn’t qualify – even with our help,” said Reine Mynahan, Auburn community development administrator.

The city, the Auburn Housing Authority and Consumer Credit Council Services of Maine will try to remedy that situation this spring. They’ll present a six-week course on credit repair, “Credit When Credit is Due.”

“It’s all been part of a process of helping people, especially downtown,” Mynahan said. “We tried helping them buy a house, now we need to help them get to that point.”

Mynahan’s office began a program last spring designed to help lower-income people buy homes downtown. Buyers who qualify can get loans from the city and Coastal Enterprises Inc., as well as grants. Some loans would be forgiven if the buyer pays off the others. In other cases, the city would purchase property for the buyer and lease it to them over time. The program would be paid for with federal grant money.

It is open to those who earn 80 percent of the median income or less. For example, a family of four that makes less than $37,350 per year would qualify.

Hundreds of people contacted the city inquiring about the program, which will begin this spring. But only 75 applied and only 19 were able to qualify. The program had room for 20, Mynahan said.

The credit-repair course will be taught by representatives from Consumer Credit Council Services and has room for 20 students. It may be offered again in the fall, Mynahan said.

Students pay $5 tuition up front. They receive a $25 grocery store gift certificate upon completion.

“On one hand, we wanted to make sure they had invested something,” Mynahan said. “On the other hand, we didn’t want to put it out of reach for anybody.”

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