BRENTWOOD, Calif.–They didn’t know each other, and yet they knew all too well the struggles and anxiety the others had been living through—such as payday loans with eye-popping rates--so when four couples and two individuals who are all part of the same reality TV series finally met, there was relief, camaraderie and even happiness.
All of them are participants in season two of Opportunity Knock$, a TV series on PBS in which credit unions play important roles and during which those being featured open their lives to share an up-close look at the financial challenges they have faced—as well has how they have turned their financial lives around.
It wasn’t easy for anyone. The precarious situations faced by all of those featured in season II required some juggling of schedules. For example, at one point, just ahead of filming them in their home, one family was about to be evicted (by working with a credit union they were able to remain in their home). Another had a vehicle repossessed as the crew was headed to film her.
CUToday.info On Hand for Filming
As reported in the first part of this two-part series, CUToday.info was on hand for the filming of the final two episodes of the reality show in the Hollywood Hills. And it wasn’t until the filming got underway that this season’s participants got to see who would also be featured this season. They had been flown from their respective hometowns to Los Angeles, and even after arrival they were kept separate until they finally were brought to the home that had been rented for the shoot.
As was the case with season one, Opportunity Knock$ also features three “Opportunity Coaches” who each work with two families/individuals. So, the filming was also the first time the coaches—who include Patrice Washington, Jean Chatzky, and Louis Barajas--were able to meet each others’ coachees. It was also the first time the show’s host, Ronaldo Hardy, the CEO of NACUSO, met any of the participants.
A Whirlwind
The shooting schedule was a whirlwind for everyone involved. The show’s production team, along with showrunner, director and writer Brian Spoor, were already busy setting up cameras and sound equipment before anyone arrived.
As with any television show, but most especially with people who are not professional actors, there is nervousness and flubs that lead to reshoots, logistical issues that are constantly being addressed, and more flux as those families/individuals not only tell their stories, but the coaches describe their own experiences and the journey they have been on.
First, a look at the season two participants in Opportunity Knock$, as described by the program:
Tanda & Donnell, Washington, D.C.
Tanda and Donnell. Photo: Erick Castro
Coach: Jean Chatzky
Credit Union: Skypoint FCU, Germantown, Md.
“Tanda & Donnell are service-minded individuals who happily give of themselves without concern for the financial burdens they’ve taken on,” Opportunity Knock$ stated. “Donnell is an Army veteran that works as a recruiter and has opened a nonprofit to help other veterans become entrepreneurs. Tanda is a high school biology teacher and an entrepreneur herself. Despite their incomes, the cost of living in their area and a massive credit card problem have left them short on cash and not enough saved to give them peace of mind.”
Nicole, El Paso, Texas
Coach: Louis Barajas
Credit Union: Raiz Credit Union, El Paso
“Nicole has been through some dramatic life changes in her 31 years,” Opportunity Knock$ explained. “Her marriage to a military man ended two years ago, and she and her kids have moved back to her hometown of El Paso to be close to her family and the support they provide. As grateful as she is for the help, she yearns to be the independent woman she once was. She works as a receptionist to make ends meet but wants to provide more for her children.”
Lynette and Omar during filming of season finale.
Lynette & Omar, Seattle
Coach: Louis Barajas
Credit Union: BECU, Tukwila, Wash.
“Naturally upbeat and grateful for what they have, Lynette and Omar dream of owning a home and building generational wealth for their children. When they were in between jobs, they lived on credit cards and predatory payday loans to make ends meet,” Opportunity Knock$ stated. “With an apartment that is disintegrating and three college-bound girls, they need help fast.”
Maegan & Wesley, Columbus, Ohio
Coach: Jean Chatzky
Credit Union: Telhio CU, Columbus
“Maegan and Wesley live with their three children in Columbus, Ohio. They both work part-time jobs to minimize the expense of childcare but without full-time work, they are living paycheck to paycheck and multiple accounts have gone into collections,” the producers said. “An even bigger challenge, they are two months behind on rent and could face eviction leaving their family of five homeless.”
Bobbye & Wesley, Baton Rouge, La.
Coach: Patrice Washington
Credit Union: Pelican State Credit Union, Baton Rouge
Bobbye and Wesley. Photo: Erick Castro
“Bobbye and Wesley live in Baton Rouge, La. with their three young children. Bobbye has been a stay-at-home mom while Wesley works in retail management,” Opportunity Knock$ explained. “As sole provider, Wesley’s paycheck is not enough to cover their bills, and time is running out for them to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. They have maxed out credit cards and two mortgage payments due in a month with no additional resources in sight.”
Erika, New Orleans
Coach: Patrice Washington
Credit Union: New Orleans Firemen’s Federal Credit Union
“Charmingly energetic, Erika is a cancer survivor and entrepreneur with a big heart, big dreams and big debt. Five hours after her last chemotherapy treatment three years ago her father passed away from cancer himself. Their combined struggle wiped out her savings and she now supports both herself and her mother by working as a front desk concierge in downtown New Orleans. They live separately due to her mother’s receipt of housing subsidy and splitting her time leaves no room for a personal life. Erika gives makeovers to other cancer patients and plans to create a non-profit to help amputees and patients get free glow-ups to raise their spirits in the toughest times.”
The Shooting Begins
During the filming of the final two episodes in Los Angeles, the coaches, along with Hardy, sat down in the living room of the home in the Hollywood Hills being used as the location of the shoot and for the first time came together and talked about the families/individuals who they are helping this season.
Opportunity Knock$ camera operator Hillary Kurtz tests a shot angle as Tim Brown III wires Jean Chatzky for audio. Standing are Patrice Washington, Louis Barajas and Ronaldo Hardy. Photo: Erick Castro
Even though the coaches, and especially Chatzky, who often appears on NBC, are accustomed to being on TV, there are starts and stops as Spoor spotted something he wanted try again or would like to get reworded or described differently.
The coaches talked informally and enthusiastically about the “transformation” and “journey” they had seen this season in those they have been coaching.
Each of the individuals/families were somewhat nervous during the finale shoot, but the trip to Los Angeles was not the first time they have been before the cameras. Each has had film crews, cameras, and their respective coaches in their homes and in their lives as their stories were told and the season came together.
The first to make their appearance in a series of brief exchanges with the coaches is Lynette & Omar from Seattle, who are being coached by Louis Barajas.
‘Connected Right Away’
“We connected right away. We had a great interview together,” Barajas tells the other coaches. “They had a little communication problem and some debt and income issues. But they are the greatest people.”
Next to meet the other coaches were Tanda & Donnell from Washington, D.C., who have been coached by Chatzky.
“They have energy that is off the charts. They brought it to the process. They made a lot of changes really quickly,” Chatzky says.
Chatzky informs the other coaches that the couple had been more than $100,000 in credit card debt, even though Donnell is a military veteran who now operates a marketplace for other vets, and Tanda has worked steadily in education.
An ‘Emergency Situation’
After Tanda and Donnell exit, they are followed by Erika from New Orleans, who is being coached by Washington.
Erika. Photo: Erick Castro
“She has a bright and bubbly personality, but this girl has put the work in,” said Washington. “We started with her in an emergency situation.”
After the production assistants remove the microphone from Erika, they wire up Bobbye and Wesley from Baton Rouge, who are also being coached by Washington. Washington tells her fellow coaches they are a “beautiful young couple” whose financial improvement has also led to a “physical transformation.”
With the description of the participants by the coaches now on film, each returns again, but this time around more time is spent with each of those being featured as they tell their stories.
It Was ‘Madness’
Tanda & Donnell from Washington talk about the burden of all the debt they were carrying.
“If we had continued the route we were on we would have probably had to file for bankruptcy,” Donnell says. “To have all of that debt was madness, and to realize how much money we were spending in interest, I didn’t even know about that. I thought we were fine, and we were not fine. To continue on that track would have been devastating.”
The couple had been paying $3,500 a month on various cards and “making no progress.” Working with SkyPoint Credit Union, the couple has been able to refinance the $110,000 they had spread across 14 credit cards into one consolidation loan, saving them about $2,000 per month.
“I did not want to look at my credit score or our bank account in the past,” Donnell explained. “We were putting money in savings but we had to move it to checking to make payments….”
“So not really saving,” a coach shares.
“Now I love my credit score,” Donnell continues, noting that scores for both he and his wife have risen by more than 100 points.
‘It’s a Daily Routine’
Today, the couple said they are now able to plan for retirement and have begun putting excess funds in higher-yielding accounts with the credit union.
Filming during season finale.
Asked what has changed in the communication in their relationship, Donnell answers, “Most importantly, we’re talking about finances, something we never talked about before. We get alerts on our phone when money comes in and comes out. We go over what we spend each day. It’s a daily routine.”
Patrice Washington tells the couple their story is not uncommon, and that many people believe they are OK financially “until they’re not.”
‘An Emotional Drain’
Next to share the details of their story were Bobbye & Wesley from Baton Rouge who were $30,000 in debt and four days away from losing their home before their coach arrived. With three children, Wesley works long hours in retail, but because he’s in management, he earns no overtime.
“It was an emotional drain on me,” said Wesley. “It was tough to get up and keep chugging along and to make ends meet, when it really wasn’t. It was depressing. It was miserable; I felt like a failure with my children. Now, I feel good about where we are and where we are going and I know our kids are feeling it too. To be able to provide for them has been amazing.”
The couple shared that the long work hours were also taking a toll on their relationship, as well as on Wesley’s physical health. He had been drinking so much soda and eating so much fast food it had rotted many of his teeth, with eight ultimately having to be pulled. He has since had dental work done through resources he found on The Opportunity Finder, a resource available through Opportunity Knock$.
‘A Much Better Spot’
“Now, I feel we are in a much better spot. It was to the point where we couldn’t talk about much of anything without getting into an argument. Now, we are a lot more communicative and a lot happier in our lives.”
The couple was proud to say they had recently had an emergency expense they were able to pay for without using a credit card.
Using The Opportunity Finder, they had also joined and have begun working with Pelican State Credit Union. The resource also helped Bobbye to find a job teaching children in a childcare center, which also addresses their own child care needs.
‘Starting Over’
Nicole shares her story. Photo: Erick Castro
Nicole from El Paso shared how she had been living paycheck to paycheck and had had seven open credit cards, some with APRs of more than 30%. She has two children and after getting married at 21 to someone in the military, she is now divorced and a single mom.
“She had to start over,” her coach, Louis Barajas, said.
“I felt like I was never going to pay (the cards) off,” Nicole shared. “When I went to Raiz (FCU) they offered me a loan to get those paid off. The payments save me about $150 a month.”
Nicole added she used The Opportunity Finder for health insurance, “which was a huge weight off my shoulders.”
She added, “Now that I am budgeting, which was completely foreign to me, I have between $200 to $400 at the end of the month.”
‘What Wasn’t Wrong?’
Omar and Lynette, the couple from Seattle who also worked with Barajas, told the other coaches how it wasn’t easy to be so vulnerable with the Opportunity Knock$ program.
Omar and Lynette meeting with BECU representative during filming of show.
“We had never talked about finances with a complete stranger before; that was the hard part, opening up in the beginning,” Omar said. “What was wrong? What wasn’t wrong? The main problem was payday loans; we had been taking out one to pay another one. We had been in the payday loan cycle together for two years, but before we met each other we had each been in and out (of payday loans) for 15 years.”
To the visible shock of the other coaches, the couple shared that their two biggest payday loans were carrying whopping 699% APRs.
Asked by one of the coaches how being in so much debt affected them physically, Lynette, who works in social services, responded, “I was obsessed with them. I would take days off work.”
‘Crippling Debt’
Added Omar, who works as a delivery driver, “We basically paid whoever showed up first or whoever was going to cut us off. Being in that much crippling debt, the migraines would hit her and that would mean being off work for two or three days. And then she lost wages from that.”
Barajas described them a “loving couple who you would never know were going through these problems. They are great at masking. It was more of how do we get them to take a look at everything and communicate together, which they do a lot more of now. They work through it together. I think that was the biggest impact I had.”
‘He Didn’t Put Us Down’
Lynette said they found BECU through The Opportunity Finder and made an appointment, eventually meeting up with a financial counselor whom they described as “phenomenal.”
The Opportunity Finder tool.
“He didn’t put us down. He was, ‘How can we help?’ He talked to us about the different ways he could help us. He helped us consolidate six of our biggest debts into one payment. We got a loan for $14,600. Our payment to BECU is just $333 a month.
The couple had previously been paying more than $2,000 a month on their debts.
“One of the biggest epiphanies I’ve seen is we forget that while they were going through all this by themselves, on the Opportunity Finder are all the resources that are right there near them,” Barajas reminded everyone.
No More Mystery
Asked what their goal is moving forward, the couple said it is to buy a home for the family that includes four children, all of whom have been living in a cramped apartment for seven years. Lynette and Omar said they have been taking a class on homeownership through the credit union.
“They took away the mystery of what that (homeownership) looks like,” said Lynette. “We saw the numbers and thought, wow, we can do this.”
Added Omar, “When we started this journey we didn’t see a house anywhere in our future. We knew we had to get all this debt under control. The only way I knew how to deal with this was to just pay.”
Barajas said it’s a situation he’s seen before.
“For a lot of people it’s more of a wish than a goal. Getting control of debt allows you to make it a goal,” he said.
‘Going Downhill Fast’
With their story shared with the others, Omar and Lynette exited the set, with Meagan and Wesley taking their place on the couch. The couple from Columbus said Opportunity Knock$ knocked at just the right time for them.
Wesley and Meagan. Photo: Erick Castro
“I was going downhill fast and just needed some way to come back up,” Wesley told the coaches.
Added Meagan, “We were behind on rent and other bills. Everything with our finances was a big mess. We were really struggling. We were both working part-time jobs. It was one thing on top of the other. We really didn’t know where to go, where to start. We have three kids, 10, 7, and 3, and childcare was a big thing.”
Wes explained how the couple had previously kept their finances separate and were not communicating at all on spending.
‘They Wouldn’t Leave Us Alone’
“It was bad with the bill collectors. They called all the time; they wouldn’t leave us alone,” said Wes.
“They called every day. I told them ‘I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to get the money for that’,” Meagan shared.
Using The Opportunity Finder, they found the Columbus Small Business Development Center, where they took classes and got an understanding of what’s in a business plan and on the need to budget. Wes said his goal is to open a bounce house business.
At the time the couple met with their coach, Jean Chatzky, they had $80,000 in student loans, plus credit card debt, unpaid apartment rent and their car had just been repossessed.
And where are they now?
“We are not only caught up, we are ahead,” said Wes. “We are caught up on all the bills.”
Participants of season two of Opportunity Knock$ meet for the first time on set of finale in Brentwood, Calif.
One big expense they have largely eliminated: eating out. And Wes acknowledged during filming of the series he was spending $600 a month at the bar, which he no longer does.
‘Working a Lot Better’
“Our budget is working a lot better,” said Meagan. “I organize everything and talk through it. I have budget sheets that help me to visualize that this is what we have, this is what we have to spend it on.”
The couple said they have used the new Opportunity Coach solution for the information on budgeting, including sticking to the 50/30/20 rule, which recommends putting 50% of money towards needs, 30% toward wants, and 20% toward savings.
Wes and Meagan also used Opportunity Finder to get in touch with Telhio Credit Union and become members. Through the CU they got a $2,000 loan to cover back rent, with payments of about $45 a month.
Asked by Chatzky why they didn’t previously budget for expenses, Wes replied, “That was more on me. I’m sort of scattered. It was a mental block and I just had to jump in. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be.”
About More Than Just the Money
Erika from New Orleans
For Erika, income wasn’t so much the issue as was her spending, she acknowledged. And her challenges were made worse when she learned she had cancer. Erica told her coach, Patrice Washington, she was overspending, fell behind on her bills (her car had been repossessed days before meeting with her coach) and she was not paying attention to her health overall, binging on fast food.
Today, Erika has been told she’s cancer free, she has a personal trainer (“because I don’t like to cook”) and her life is back on the right track, including financially.
Using The Opportunity Finder, too, she was put in touch with New Orleans Firemen's FCU, which provided a financial coach who worked with her weekly, and helped her boost her credit score by more than 130 points.
Participants in Opportunity Knock$ join each other for dinner.
“I feel happy now,” she said. “I feel free. I feel good. I’ve had about a $40,000 swing.”
A Reward
While they didn’t know it at the time of the filming, each of the participants can be awarded up to $20,000 from The Opportunity Fund. which gives the participants grants. The show stresses the funds are not a reward, but instead recognition of their hard work. Their respective coaches will provide guidance on how to use the funds.
Premier Party
A premier party for season two will be hosted by Skypoint Credit Union on April 17 with special guest Jean Chatzky and the mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser, who Strayer said has been a big supporter. Bowser’s office has helped The Opportunity Finder to identify nonprofits that are included as resources for local residents. Those nonprofits have included the United Way, the Urban League, health care organizations and the YMCA, which helps provide assistance with childcare.
Opportunity Knock$ creator Jamie Strayer said she is hoping these organizations and credit unions come together to encourage donors to give funds to produce season three.