Michelle Richards-Phillips, mortgage executive, Bank of America. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

If one wants to know how to get a first home in the United States with less than US$5,000 in hand, then award-winning Bank of America mortgage officer Michelle Richards-Phillips is the one to show you how. She will, if you ask, also tell you how to keep a positive attitude when others consistently tell you that you can only fail.

After all, that is how this Jamaican got her own home, after landing in Florida as a single mom.

Holding down two jobs so that she could provide for her child and pay the mortgage for her home back in Jamaica, Richards-Phillips displayed a can-do attitude which not only secured her own property, but has also propelled her through the ranks of her peers at the Bank of America.

Richards-Phillips, mortgage loan officer and vice-president of Bank of America Mortgage, closed $34 million in loans in 2006 to qualify for the Chairman's club. She is also now ranked first in Bank of America in North and South Broward.

First home

Within nine months of relocating to the United States, she was able to purchase her first home, using two grants and her little downpayment of only US$3,000.

The Kingston-born banker was raised in Portmore with two sisters and one brother by single mom and hairdresser Gwen Richards, now Richards-Morrison.

Michelle attended Holy Childhood High School and when her mom migrated and completed filing for her in 1999, she was glad to go, she said, as she saw it as an opportunity for herself andher daughter.

Employed to Workers Bank, she also reveals that her employer was making workers redundant. It was time to seek new horizons.

In Florida, her new environment was not an extremely welcoming one. "It required a totally different perspective," Michelle reflects.

In Jamaica, working as an auditor, she was used to dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's. The system in the U.S. was more laid back, but more challenging at the same time.

There to achieve

Starting work at a collection agency, she said she told herself that she was there to achieve.

"I had to work night and day," Michelle recalls, noting that, at the same time, her daughter who was asthmatic needed close monitoring.

In 1999, she was interviewed by another Jamaican female for a job with the bank, who asked her where she saw herself in two years. She answered, 'in your job'. The bank officer was not impressed.

She got the job but was placed in a tough Spanish neighbourhood where black people had bad credit and avoided the bank. Even her friends were forced to ask, 'Why did they place you there?'

But, Michelle was not fazed.

"Know you can make it if you try," she interjects.

Her sister and mom assisted her in caring for her daughter, and Michelle rolled up her sleeves in the bid to get clients. In two years, she was equal in rank to the Jamaican who had interviewed her.

Her progress continued rapidly. On reflection, Michelle Richards-Phillips says she gives thanks to Jamaican banker Norma Russell, who she said was mentor, manager and boss, who removed her from audit and sent her to the University of Colorado to study customer service. This was the basis on which her switch to personal banking in Florida has succeeded.

In her daily transactions, she applied the three-feet-in rule, whereby after shaking the handof everyone she met, she made sure that they also found out what she did and her availability to help them realise their dreams.

Skills in personal banking

Recognising her skills in personal banking, Michelle was promoted by Bank of America to bank account executive in charge of 17 banking centres and their loans by 2001. Then, in April of 2004, she became a mortgage loan officer. At this bank Michelle is able to originate loans in all the states of the U.S. The bank offers highly competitive products with marketing strategies that reach everyone including no money down, low or no credit score, first-time homebuyers, jumbo loans, stated income, no income no asset verification and investors.

In 2005, after selling 125 units and $25 million in mortgages, Michelle Richards-Phillips made the president's club at Bank of America. By 2006 she was number one in the county.

The hard-working mortgage manager was made assistant vice president of Bank of America Mortgage and came to public attention with the prestigious achievement of qualifying for the Chairman's club in 2006. In 2007 she was promoted to vice-president.

Richards-Phillips, now aged 39 and married to real estate specialist Ralston Phillips has three daughters - Shawnelle, 12, Ashley eight, and Mikala, two.

Her office is located at 1776 Pine Island Road in Broward but staff there are likely to see her only two days each week.

Michelle works from home with her phones and computer (email address - michelle.e.richards @bankofamerica.com) are in operation for almost 18 hours each day. Clients can call her at any time of the day, and they do. "I am managing my own money and managing my own time."

Michelle prides herself in keeping her Jamaican accent and her own warm Jamaican personality. She is not afraid to advise clients on matters completely unrelated to finance but which affect their personal lives. The banker is also a Christian and a strong believer who credits God with her success.

Excellent guidance

She also has had excellent guidance from her supervisors.

"I have a boss - Joe Carelli - who is white but who went on the Internet to learn patois so that he could write to me in the language. I am blessed to have him."

Carelli's kindness has seen her through one eptopic pregnancy and the birth of her younger daughter. He also flew a trainer to her home so that she could continue to prepare for promotions.

Making US$34 million mortgage loans in 2006 was miraculous, she said. And, while 2007 is a slower year, already she has done US$17,000. "It shows you God is good," she gloats.

She especially loves to assist first-time homebuyers who often do not understand that there is help to be had from the state. She also loves to serve Jamaicans.

Richards-Phillips has beaten the odds and she says, "Your skin will not go away. It is your inner self which is important. Show them your heart. People will tell you things that make you feel you can't do it. But it is what you have inside(that counts)."