Giving Credit Where It’s Due
Choosing the Right Credit Counseling Agency
The following is a list of questions to guide you as you talk with credit counseling agencies. These questions will determine if you are speaking with legitimate and professional counselors who are genuinely interested in helping you.
Services and Fees
- What services do you offer?
- Do you have educational materials? If so, will you send them to me? Are they free? Can I access them on the Internet?
- In addition to helping me solve my immediate problem, will you help me develop a plan for avoiding problems in the future?
- What are your fees? Do I have to pay anything before you can help me? Are there monthly fees? What is the basis for the fees?
- What is the source of your funding?
- Will I have a formal written agreement or contract with you?
- How soon can you take my case?
- Who regulates, oversees, or licenses your agency? Is your agency audited?
- Will I work with one counselor or several?
- What are the qualifications of your counselors? Are they accredited or certified? If not, how are they trained?
- What assurances do I have that information about me (including my address and phone number) will be kept confidential?
Repayment Plan
- How much debt must I have to use your services?
- How do you determine the amount of my payment? What happens if this is more than I can afford?
- How does your debt repayment plan work? How will I know my creditors have received payments? Is client money put into a separate account from operating funds?
- How often can I get status reports on my accounts? Can I get access to my accounts online or by phone?
- Can you get my creditors to lower or eliminate interest and finance charges or waive late fees?
- Is a debt repayment plan my only option?
- What if I can’t maintain the agreed-upon plan?
- What debts will be excluded from the debt repayment plan?
- Will you help me plan for payment of these debts?
- Who will help me if I have problems with my accounts or creditors?
- How secure is the information I provide to you?
- Will this appear on my credit report?
* This personal finance tip is taken from the FDIC’s Money Smart curriculum. For more information on Money Smart, visit www.fdic.gov.
