Credit Counselors Explained

By Author: William Hauselberg
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Credit counselors have become commonplace as they can be found at banks, nonprofit agencies, credit unions, universities, and even religious institutions with a purposes to help people get out of debt without declaring bankruptcy. Credit counselors are supposed to act as mediators between debtors and creditors. They will sit down with a client and determine how much debt they owe and how and when they can pay the money back. This means that they will create a budget and a payment plan for the client in order to help them pay off the debt within the specified time frame.

Credit Counseling Fees

Usually, they will offer a free consultation for the initial visit to assess the situation, but they will have a fee schedule for each subsequent visit. Fees vary depending on the credit counseling agency, but just make sure that the fees are affordable for you before you sign up. Generally, people tend to quite well with these consultations, but you must be aware that there are a lot of scams out there. Before you sign up with a credit counselor, verify that it is a legitimate organization and check Better Business Bureau, ...
... the FTC, or a consumer protection agency.

How Credit Counseling Can Affect Your Credit Score

Working with a credit counselordoes not guarantee anything, so there is still the possibility that you may still have the same financial problems that you had in the beginning. The whole purpose of seeing one is that you will have a solid plan to pay back the money, but if you do not follow their plan or if you miss payments then everything will revert to the way they were before with the interest rates and etc. Some credit counseling agencies can affect your credit score in different ways as well. If you are just starting to make regular payments, then your score may increase just because of that. Sometimes your credit score will decrease because you are making lower payments or if you do not follow their budget properly. In most situations, it will have a neutral effect on your credit sore. Ultimately, you are the one who determines whether or not the credit counseling will be effective.

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