| A checklist for credit counseling (credit counseling)
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A checklist for credit counseling
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When it comes to selecting a credit counseling agency, it is important to separate the wheat from the chaff. Always check to see if the credit counseling agency has a BBB membership. Additionally look for accrediation like the National Institute for Financial Counseling Education. Make sure you understand the fees and are in line with what you would expect to pay. In short, do some comparison shopping. It is important to make sure that the forms you fill out at credit counseling agency are simple to understand and services provided are listed along with the timeframe in which the services will be provided or consultation will be offered. Some companies will offer you to wipe off your debt which is impossible. Instead work with a genuine credit counseling company on eliminating your debt.
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A checklist for credit counseling
Signs of a Reliable Credit Counseling Agency
__Better Business Bureau Membership
The service's website should have a BBB logo and a link to their record on the Better Business Bureau website. Click through the link to check that there are no unresolved complaints against them. Many people only think about the Better Business Bureau after they've been cheated, but by then there's not much you can do. Working with a credit counseling agency that is a member of the Better Business Bureau means that you can go to them to help mediate any dispute you might have with the service provider.
__Accreditation
Reputable credit counseling services will be accredited by an independent nonprofit, just as many schools are. One such accreditation body is the National Institute for Financial Counseling Education.
__Fees
A good credit counseling agency will charge a small, reasonable monthly fee, usually around $30. Some also charge a fee upfront, though this fee should be reasonable (around $50 tops). It may be possible to get a hardship waiver of these fees if you truly do not have the $30-50.
__Clear Application
The application must clearly say what the fees to be paid are, what the services to be provided are, and in what timeframe all of this will be provided.
__Reasonable Promises
Run far, far away from any organization that proposes to "wipe out" your debt for you, rather than simply helping you to repay the debt. Short of your creditors just deciding to forget about the debt (unlikely), there is no way to erase debt even bankruptcy leaves a huge mark on your credit report for ten years.
True, your car may not go missing from your driveway if you stop paying unsecured debt (i.e., debt that is not "secured" with collateral, like most credit cards, unlike most auto loans). But you are still legally obligated to pay the debt, and the possibility of being taken to court will loom over you. You will likely be unable to get even "bad credit" financing if you still have debts in collections good luck buying a car or house.
Not Necessarily Signs of a Reliable Agency
XX Nonprofit Status
Nonprofit status is essentially a tax designation, not a government endorsement of a group's mission. There are plenty of near-fraudulent credit counseling agencies that are registered nonprofits.
XX Respectable Name
Any group can put words like "National," "Alliance," "Assistance," and other trust-inspiring words in their name. But a name is just a name. Make sure to check any organization against the list above to make sure they're reliable. Also try searching for the group's name on a search engine. Don't just look for a lack of negative reports that might just mean the group changed names recently. Instead, look for positive reviews from real people, and preferably mention on reputable third-party websites, such as news sites.
Ready to find a credit counseling agency? You're in the right place: the web is full of credit counseling agencies. Just use the checklist above, and you'll have no trouble separating the saints from the scams.
Joel Walsh has written on credit counseling: http://www.debtguru.com
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Signs you need credit counseling
Debt management programs can be of real help for people that discover they cannot face their debts. At first, they will attempt to solve the situation all by themselves by cutting down on spending and keeping a close eye on accounts. If this doesn't work then it is time to ask for help from a financial expert. The sooner you admit you need help from an expert, the better will be for your future. The best time to seek the advice of an expert is before the appearance of most of the important 10 signs you may need credit counseling. You should already be worried when one or two signs appear. Of course that there are not only 10 signs you may need credit counseling but, these 10, are the most important. When you see more than a few of 10 signs at the same time, know that the situation is bad and getting into a debt management program could be the right solution for you.
There are not a fixed number of signs that can tell you your debts are slowly killing your financial life, but in the following lines we will try to present the most important 10 signs you may need credit counseling. The most important sign is loosing your job or the possibility to loose it. The first thing you think of when you loose a job is how you will pay all your bills. In such a situation it is best not to loose your cool. You may think you just need to start looking for a new job and the bad situation will be solved. In case your next job does not come in the near future, the best thing for your financial situation would be to ask the advice of a credit counselor; even for the most desperate situations he will certainly have a solution. You should also be worried when your credit card balances are increasing while your monthly income is decreasing. This would mean that, in short time, you'll not be able to pay your monthly minimum payments. This is another sign that you need credit counseling; if paying the minimum amounts required on your accounts is a situation that lasts a short period of time, and then the problem is not that bad. But if the situation repeats itself over and over again, this is a sure sign you may need credit counseling.
When you discover that you have more credit cards then you need, know that this is one of the 10 signs you may need credit counseling. You have more cards then you need because you're trying to pay an existing card with the cash advances obtained from other new cards. Another situation that could indicate you need the advice of an expert is when you're constantly charging monthly more than you pay. If this is the first sign of financial trouble many people will try to work it out on their own by working overtime or taking a part time job. As we said before, if the situation is for a short period of time and you manage to get out of trouble all is fine but if it continues for a longer period this is another sign that you may need credit counseling. Also, if you start getting letters or phone calls about late bill payments, you should be worried at once.
These 10 signs you may need credit counseling do not appear all at once; in time, one after the other, they will eventually appear. But it is mostly important to recognize them all, admit you have a problem and ask for help. There are situation in which the signs mentioned before appear at a certain moment but the person in trouble cannot see them or refuses to see them. More than that, people in financial trouble don't know how much they owe and don't want to find out. This is another sign that financial counseling is needed. The situation could get worse in case all this financial problems are not made known to the spouse as well. And, sometimes, when trying to hide such a bad situation, people in trouble are using their savings to pay off the monthly bills.
The best advice for people that are experiencing this kind of trouble is to not let all the signs accumulate. When few of them appear and repeat themselves for a longer period of time, wise people should ask for advice from a financial expert that will surely have few options to get them out of debts.
This article has been provided courtesy of Creditor Web. Creditor Web offers great credit card articles available for reprint and other tools to help you search and compare credit card offers.
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