Choosing a Credit Counsellor With Your Best Interests In Mind

Are you someone who is still not in the red but you’ve started incurring high interest credit card debt? Although the pitch of revised interest rates and low monthly payments make debt consolidation the most popular debt relief option among the debtors, but when you’re still not in the red, you can certainly get help of the professional credit counsellors.

The credit counsellors run the credit counselling agencies and they’re professional experts who specialize in offering financial help to the hapless debtors. But among the number of credit counselling agencies in the market, how will you come to know the best one that can help you climb out of your debt woes? Here are some ways to choose the best credit counsellor. 

1. Check if the counselling agency is non-profit: At the minimum, always remember that the services that you choose to get out of debt should be registered as non-profit. There are many agencies that have already abused their non-profit status and therefore you should be sure that they’re accredited by the COA or the Council on Accreditation or the ISO or the International Organization for Standardization.

2. Check if the agency is a member of NFCC: Another point that you need to check is whether or not the credit counselling agency is a member of the NFCC or the National Foundation for Credit Counseling or the AICCCA or the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies. If only they are registered by the 2 aforementioned institutions, they will follow certain strict financial, quality and ethical standards.

3. Check if the counselors are certified: Apart from completing the internal training program of the agency, the credit counselors should also have passed a certain certification exam that tests for understanding in areas like budgeting, credit, budgeting and credit and consumer law and bankruptcy. In case you need effective advice on counseling on housing issues, you should choose a counselor who is certified by the HUD or the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

4. Offers multiple debt management options: The credit counselor should offer you more than one debt management option through which you can get out of debt according to your convenience. If you see that the counselor is offering you a single debt relief option that will mean that he isn’t offering you too many choices to work according to your convenience. He should allow you to choose among many different options.

5. Creates a budget for you: The credit counselor should create a budget for you so that you can easily be able to follow it throughout the month. The budget should eliminate all unnecessary expenses so that you don’t overspend when you’re already in debt. Evaluate the budget at the end of the month so that you can take steps to put in some changes according to the financial updates in your life.

Hence, if you’re eager to change the way you think about money, choose the right credit counselor and take help in order to get back a firm grip on your finances.