Consumer Credit Counselling Service

Credit counselling services can offer various debt solutions for the consumer -you just have to be careful about the one you select.

When you are desperate for debt help, consumer credit counselling services can be very useful however finding a reputable consumer credit counselling service with debt solutions that meet your needs is not always that easy.

Here are some key questions to ask when shopping for a reputable consumer credit counselling service.

1) What services does this consumer credit counselling agency offer?

If the only services the agency offers are Debt Management Plans you should look elsewhere. A professional and reputable consumer credit counselling agency will also offer a full range of services and counselling.

A reputable agency will take the time to sit down with you in person and fully discuss your financial situation and debt problems with you. This should take you at least an hour to an hour and a half. Ideally you should leave with a personalised plan that may or may not include a Debt Management Plan.

If the credit counselling service you're dealing with tries to offer you a Debt Management Plan within the first 15 minutes, they clearly haven't taken the time to understand your financial situation.

2) What exactly are all the fees that you will be charged?

Lets face it, you are already in trouble because of your finances so the fees you will be paying a vitally important. You should be able to get detailed information about the credit counselling agency's services and fees in writing before disclosing any of your personal information.

 If you can't get a full understanding of all of the fees up front, that should be a red flag to you that something is wrong.

3) Where will your payments be going?

If you decide to proceed with a credit card debt management plan, you must ensure that all of your payments will in fact be distributed to your creditors. Some credit counselling agencies will claim the first month's payment is a fee which is not a great sign of a reputable credit counselling service.

In addition, any reputable credit counselling service should work with all of your creditors, not just the companies that they have contracts.

4) How long will it take to pay off your debts?

A realistic Debt Management Plan will take somewhere between 30 to 60 months to complete on average. You should be very sceptical of any consumer credit counselling service that suggests a quick fix solutions or alleges that they can wipe out your debts fast.

5) How are the counsellors trained and paid?

Reputable consumer credit counselling agencies provide adequate training for their counsellors and ideally they should pay their employees a salary. If the consumer credit counselling service you're considering pays its staff a bonus or a percentage of your Debt Management Plan then maybe you should, look elsewhere.