New Clients

The first step in the 1:1 advising process is the intake form. This process should be completed by all new clients seeking 1:1 advising services.

If the client already has a Service File, skip to the Returning clients section. If not, continue to the next step.

Intake Process

The intake form has been connected to HomeKeeper, eliminating the need for paper forms. The advising intake form link (used for ALL 1:1 advising services) is found in the upper right of the Home screen in HomeKeeper.

To share the online intake form with clients, click on the ‘Advising Intake Link’ and copy the URL from the new tab that opens. Please use the same Intake Link URL for all advising client intakes and instruct prospective clients to have only one household member (the primary applicant) complete the intake form for the entire household.

After a client completes the intake form, the client will have both a Service File and a Counseling/Education record in HomeKeeper. Clients who have completed the intake form but who have not yet completed their first advising appointment will show in the ‘New Intakes’ list view on the Home page of HomeKeeper.

Advising Process

If the client has completed the online signature process for the Privacy/Disclosure forms, there will be a link for the completed forms. If they have not completed the e-signature process and have not provided a physical signature, obtain verbal authorization for those forms and check the “Verbal Authorization Obtained” checkbox.

Other information to review on the Details tab of the Service File include the Applicant Address, Household/Income Information, and AMI Information. If the client is a foreclosure client, also review the Foreclosure Information at the bottom of the details tab.

The Contact Info tab contains the primary applicant’s contact information, and the Financial tab includes the income reported by the client from the Intake form.

Returning Clients

If a client has received a 1:1 advising services from your agency within the past six months, navigate to their Service File and use the “Quick 1-1 Counseling” link to create a new C/E record for the client. After this, please follow the Advising Process guidelines

C/E (Counseling and Education Records)

Each client will have one C/E record for each service they receive. Clients may have more than one C/E record if they are receiving a number of services (Ex. if a client attended a Home Stretch workshop and is now returning for 1:1 Pre-Purchase advising, that client will have one C/E record for their attendance at the workshop, and one C/E record for their advising session.

Advising activity should be recorded in a single C/3 record — do not create multiple C/E for one client’s advising services (the exception being if they are a returning client). All information about the counseling appointments for the client’s service should be recorded in the single C/E record.

If you need to take notes about the client BEFORE their first advising session, please use the Notes field on the C/E record. DO NOT use the Notes field to record any Log Items or information related to counseling appointments and follow-up actions.

All interactions AFTER the first advising appointment should be recorded in the Log Items.

First Appointment

Navigate to the client’s C/E record (found either in the ‘New Intakes’ list view on the Home page of HomeKeeper, or under the Counseling/Education tab of the client’s Service File)

Review the information in the Information section of the Details tab of the C/E record for completeness:

• Check to be sure a Counselor has been selected — if this field is blank, select the advisor who will be the primary service provider for the client. The advisor will need to have an Agency Contact record.
• Selecting the Counseling Type — either ‘Face to Face’ for in-person advising sessions or ‘Phone’ for sessions that occur via phone call, Zoom, or other internet video chat platform
• You may also need to select the Purpose Detail:
  • For ‘Pre-Purchase’ clients, choose either 1:1 Homebuyer Advising or 1:1 Financial Wellness Advising
  • for ‘Non-Delinquency Post-Purchase (Home Maintenance) clients, choose either Refinance Advising, Financial Manage and Budget Advising, or Home Maintenance Advising
  • Mortgage Delinquency will already have a Purpose Detail of Foreclosure Advising, and ‘Reverse Mortgage ‘ will already have a Purpose Detail of HECM Advising
• The Funders section should be used to indicate whether this client activity will be counted under another grant source, such as Minneapolis Financial Wellness or HECAT.

Once a client has completed their first advising appointment (or during their first appointment), click on the pencil icon next to the Status, and change it from “Intake Complete — Appointment Pending” to “Ongoing” This step is required in order for the client to count toward any grant funding sources (HUD, HECAT), and should NOT be done prior to the first advising appointment

Two things happen once the Status has been updated to “Ongoing”:

1. The system will now allow the advisor to enter Log Items for the client.
2. The Primary Applicant will receive an email containing a link to complete a short service-specific survey (for Pre-purchase, Foreclosure, and HECM clients) that has implications for HECAT Outcomes measures. It is recommended to discuss this with your client before the end of the first advising appointment

Log Items

After the first advising appointment is complete, and at each subsequent appointment, create a Log Item in the client’s C/E record. Log items should be entered after every advising appointment or follow-up contact with the client in order to maintain compliance with record-keeping requirements.

• Note: Do not create a new C/E record for new advising appointments/counseling sessions if the client is returning for the same service as their first appointment. Do not use the “Notes” field to track advising sessions or follow-ups. Create a Log Item instead.

To create a new Log Item, click on the “Add Log Item” button at the top right of the C/E record.

Make sure the Date and Time for the Log Item are correct, and enter the Duration in Minutes for the amount of time spent counseling the client. Make sure the Count in Session Duration box is checked for any counseling sessions.

The Type will most often be ‘Counseling Session’ but may be ‘Other’ if the Log Item is recording follow-up activity (ex. time spent on emails sent to or on behalf of a client). The Type will rarely be ‘Intake’ use only when the advisor has completed the online intake form on behalf of the client. Please contact your Member Support Specialist if you have any questions about the distinction between Log Item Type.

Once the first Log Item has been created, you will see a Session Start Date has been populated by the system, which allows the client to be counted on the HECAT Report and the HUD 9902 (if applicable):

Mortgage Readiness Tool — Home purchase & Financial Wellness

For 1:1 pre-purchase clients, use the Mortgage Readiness tab on the client’s C/E record to track mortgage readiness metrics, which will be used in HECAT Outcomes measurements.

Advisors should complete this form for the first time either prior to or during the first advising session, and again at each subsequent appointment, to assess a client’s progress towards mortgage readiness. Each completion of the Mortgage Readiness form will create a Mortgage Readiness Snapshot.

Only clients with more than one Mortgage Readiness Snapshot will be counted towards HECAT Outcomes goals, but advisors should collect this information for all 1:1 pre-purchase clients.

In the Mortgage Readiness tab, you will select the applicant you want to track (for households with a co-applicant) and answer yes or no for each question.

There are 6 mortgage readiness criteria being measured, and each “Yes” counts as one point. Any score increase that occurs between intake and year-end counts as “improvement” for the purpose of meeting goals.

Note: Do not create a new C/E record for new advising appointments/counseling sessions if the client is returning for the same service as their first appointment. Do not use the “Notes” field to track advising sessions or follow-ups. Create a Log Item instead.

Post-Advising Survey

The post advising survey is automatically sent out to clients when the Status is changed to “Ongoing” as noted in the “First Appointment” section above. This survey is used to collect important data for HECAT Outcomes measurements.

There is another optional survey — the Close-Out Survey — that can be manually sent/emailed to clients to gather purchase information after the advising relationship has stopped.

Closing Cases

If a client stops responding, the advisor must make at least two attempts to reconnect. These outreach efforts are meant to confirm whether the client is still working toward their housing goal, has achieved it, or needs to adjust or end services. Advisors should use two different contact methods, such as phone, email, or mail.

If there is no response after these attempts, the advisor must send a written notice (letter or email) explaining that contact efforts were made and asking the client to respond within 30 days. This follow-up helps the agency determine whether services should continue or be closed.

If the client does not respond within 30 days, the case must be closed and documented as “services terminated due to lack of communication.”

Common Issues and Solutions

Duplicate Records

Sometimes, there will be more than one Service File or more than one C/E record for a client. In the event of a duplicate Service File (where the client has been receiving services or does not count as a Returning Client), review the Service Files to determine which is most complete, enter any missing information into the Service File you want to keep (including creating a new C/E record in or re-assigning the C/E record to the Service File you will be keeping), and then delete the duplicate Service File.