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.
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.