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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?
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