Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line 09-04-2026: FNBA's Elsa Payne on the Down Payment Plus program & Community Shred Days

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Talk Line 09-04-2026: FNBA's Elsa Payne on the Down Payment Plus program & Community Shred Days · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: Chuck Berry, Rollover Beethoven, keeping your Friday morning moving along
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  Speaker 1: here on FM 95.1 and AM 1460 WIXN. It's 8.35
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  Speaker 1: and it's time for Talk Line. We're joined once again
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  Speaker 1: by our good friends from the First National Bank in Amboy,
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  Speaker 1: Elsa Payne, making her way through the heat and humidity
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  Speaker 1: to be here in person to drop some financial knowledge
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  Speaker 1: on us today. Elsa, how are you?
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  Speaker 2: Good morning.
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  Speaker 3: I'm good.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me.
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  Speaker 1: Always a pleasure to have you folks here. Always so
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  Speaker 1: much great information. coming from First National Bank in Amboy. And,
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  Speaker 1: you know, this is something that, you know, even if
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  Speaker 1: you already own a home, chances are whether you're going
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  Speaker 1: to have kids or going to know somebody looking for one,
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  Speaker 1: this is great information to have, even if you can't
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  Speaker 1: use it yourself. So many folks might not be aware
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  Speaker 1: of the Down Payment Plus program and how it can
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  Speaker 1: help them. And so Elsa's here today to explain that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so we partner with the Federal Home Loan Bank
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  Speaker 3: of Chicago to provide these Down Payment Plus grants. So
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  Speaker 3: the Down Payment Plus grant, it provides down payment and
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  Speaker 3: closing cost assistance for up to $ 10, 000 for income-eligible homebuyers.
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  Speaker 3: The assistance is provided in the form of a forgivable grant,
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  Speaker 3: forgiven at 160th per month over five years or 60 months.
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  Speaker 3: But if for some reason, whatever it may be, that
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  Speaker 3: you might not own that home for at least five years,
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  Speaker 3: then the borrower would have to pay back a prorated
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  Speaker 3: portion of that grant. If they own the home for
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  Speaker 3: at least five years, then the grant is fully forgiven,
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  Speaker 3: that retention agreement is released, and they don't have to
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  Speaker 3: pay anything back on that. So to be income eligible...
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  Speaker 3: You have to be at or below 80% of the
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  Speaker 3: area median income, which is where the property is located at. So,
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  Speaker 3: for example, here in Lee County, a single borrower with
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  Speaker 3: no other household members, so if they're just purchasing maybe
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  Speaker 3: their first home or whatever it may be, and it's
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  Speaker 3: just them that's going to be living in the home
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  Speaker 3: at the time that they purchase, they.
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  Speaker 2: Can earn up to $ 52, 150 annually to qualify.
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  Speaker 3: So if your income qualifies and you qualify for your loan,
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  Speaker 3: then you qualify for this grant. The income does vary
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  Speaker 3: based on household size. So the more household members that
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  Speaker 3: there are, the higher the income can be to qualify,
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  Speaker 3: but it does take into account all household member incomes
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  Speaker 3: that are 18 years old or older. Even if they
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  Speaker 3: are not a borrower on the loan, their income is
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  Speaker 3: still taken into consideration unless that person over 18 years
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  Speaker 3: old is an active student in college. So, you know,
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  Speaker 3: if you have, you know, children in the house, those
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  Speaker 3: are counted as your household members. So, you know, if
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  Speaker 3: there's two household members, you can earn up to $ 59, 600 annually.
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  Speaker 2: Three is $ 67, 050. Four is $ 74, 500 and etc. So, These limits,
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  Speaker 2: they're published.
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  Speaker 3: By HUD, which is the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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  Speaker 3: They publish these income limits annually, usually around April or May.
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  Speaker 3: So those do change every year, those income limits.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, with the way the prices of everything goes,
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  Speaker 1: it's nice to know that that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, they do gradually seem to increase every year, along
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  Speaker 3: with everything else. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Um, and this really seems like it'll, it'll help a
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  Speaker 1: lot of folks, you know, especially, you know, right in
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  Speaker 1: that kind of an income level, there's, you know, already,
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  Speaker 1: you're already dealing with enough financial challenges as it is.
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  Speaker 1: And so I think, you know, something like this is
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  Speaker 1: really the difference, um, between folks in this income category,
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  Speaker 1: having buying a home as an actual option. Right. Exactly.
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  Speaker 3: Sometimes it's hard, you know, they might qualify for their loan,
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  Speaker 3: but But it's hard for them to come up with that,
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  Speaker 3: you know, what the extra that they need for closing
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  Speaker 3: costs and things like that. So this grant, it really
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  Speaker 3: is beneficial to the ones that can qualify for that.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that helps with a lot of frustration. You do
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  Speaker 1: your due diligence. You build your credit right. You're talking
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  Speaker 1: with your banker because you guys are always great about
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  Speaker 1: one-on-one conversations. And so, yeah, to have that last little
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  Speaker 1: hurdle there, but to have that there, that's fantastic.
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  Speaker 2: There are some requirements for the grant, of course.
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  Speaker 3: So there can't be any co-signers or non-occupying borrowers on
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  Speaker 3: the loan program. They do have to meet the income
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  Speaker 3: requirements that were mentioned, of course. Each borrower, or well,
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  Speaker 3: not each borrower, the borrower must contribute at least $ 1, 000
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  Speaker 3: of their own funds for the purchase. Those funds cannot
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  Speaker 3: be a loan or a gift. They have to be
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  Speaker 3: their own funds that they have saved up. And, you know,
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  Speaker 3: it can be something as simple as, you know, the
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  Speaker 3: earnest money that they put down for the home. That
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  Speaker 3: would qualify for their contribution. You know, if it's paying for,
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  Speaker 3: you know, a home inspection plus, you know, 500 earnest
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  Speaker 3: money or, you know, paying for part of their homeowner's insurance.
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  Speaker 3: It just has to be at least $ 1, 000 contribution for
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  Speaker 3: the grant. And then they also have to complete a
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  Speaker 3: homebuyer education course, which can be done online. And then
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  Speaker 3: they have to do a counseling session, which can also
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  Speaker 3: be done over the phone or there's, you know, offices
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  Speaker 3: that they could do that in person as well. So
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  Speaker 3: there is some work to put into it, but you
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  Speaker 3: get $ 10, 000 in return.
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  Speaker 2: So it definitely pays off to do that.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I've still yet to find a check for any
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  Speaker 1: class I've ever taken.
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  Speaker 3: Right, exactly, for.
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  Speaker 1: $ 10, 000. Yeah, not a bad haul for a couple days' work. So, no,
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  Speaker 1: that's fantastic. And, I mean, this is just one of
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  Speaker 1: many programs and different things that are available to assist
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  Speaker 1: people in homeownership. Different, obviously different requirements for different, but
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  Speaker 1: there are many, many more that if folks wanted to
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  Speaker 1: find out about, I imagine a conversation with you guys
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  Speaker 1: would be great.
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  Speaker 3: They can definitely reach out to us if they have
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  Speaker 3: any other questions or to learn more about Down Payment Plus.
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  Speaker 2: They can give us a call. They can stop in,
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  Speaker 2: you know, whatever it means.
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  Speaker 3: That they want to do to get in contact with us.
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  Speaker 2: To learn more.
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  Speaker 1: Awesome. You also came to share some information about community
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  Speaker 1: Shred Days. Now, Elsa, are we going to be hitting
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  Speaker 1: the gym together? Is me and like 50 other people
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  Speaker 1: going to be out there doing pull-ups or what is this?
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  Speaker 3: So our Shred Days, they are an opportunity that we
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  Speaker 3: offer to our communities. I think we've been doing it
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  Speaker 3: for the last five or six years. It's a free
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  Speaker 3: service that each person can bring up to four large
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  Speaker 3: boxes or bags. of their important documents or anything that
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  Speaker 3: they want to be shredded up and eliminated. So these
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  Speaker 3: finally are starting in September. I know we've talked about
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  Speaker 3: it for the last few times that we've been here,
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  Speaker 3: but it's finally September. So those start next weekend on Saturday,
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  Speaker 3: September 12th. That will start at our Dixon North location
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  Speaker 3: behind the bank in the back parking lot. So from
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  Speaker 3: 9 to 11, they can drive up and bring their
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  Speaker 3: boxes or bags of shred. They'll throw them in the
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  Speaker 3: huge truck shredder, and off they go. And then the
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  Speaker 3: following weekend, September 19th, they'll be in Franklin Grove from
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  Speaker 3: 9 to 11, also behind the bank in the parking
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  Speaker 3: lot in the back. And then Saturday, September 26th, is
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  Speaker 3: when they're at our main location from 9 to 11
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  Speaker 3: in the back parking lot there as well.
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  Speaker 1: Well, there you go. You've got multiple days, multiple options
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  Speaker 1: to get it done. Put away your sweatbands and your skateboards.
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  Speaker 1: Bring out your shred. This is a nice resource for
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  Speaker 1: people to have. I know a lot of folks can, unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: if they haven't taken care of it themselves... I've had
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  Speaker 1: some relatives who have had some pretty hefty stacks. Right, yeah. Because,
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  Speaker 1: you know, you don't know, if you don't dispose of
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  Speaker 1: that information properly, you certainly don't want it floating around anywhere.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly.
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  Speaker 1: But you don't want to start building furniture out of paper. Exactly.
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  Speaker 1: So this is a fantastic way to go ahead and
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  Speaker 1: take care of that, and that's awesome.
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  Speaker 3: Yep, yep.
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  Speaker 1: So if... Anyone wants to know anything more, I know
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  Speaker 1: they can give you folks a call. Is all this
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  Speaker 1: information online as well?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, it should be on our website, fnbanboy.com.
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  Speaker 3: They can give us a call, 857-3625, or, of course,
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  Speaker 3: stop in any of our full-service locations.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you've got multiple options, but stop in. Honestly, face-to-face
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  Speaker 1: conversations are always so awesome, and you guys are so friendly,
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  Speaker 1: very thorough, take your time, you're patient-explaining people. You know,
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  Speaker 1: the different programs and questions folks have. But whatever way
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  Speaker 1: you feel most comfortable, they've got you covered. Anything else
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  Speaker 1: you'd like to share today, Elsa?
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  Speaker 2: I think that was all I got.
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  Speaker 1: All right. That's fine. Well, I thank you for coming in,
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  Speaker 1: always sharing this information and everything you guys do, your
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  Speaker 1: community events. And we look forward to the next update
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  Speaker 1: from you.
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  Speaker 2: Sounds good. Thank you so much.