Best Credit Counseling Agencies

All five have a clean reputation and a similar process. During a credit counseling session, you can expect to get a budget review, debt analysis and a personalized action plan. Sounds like some business jargon, but what does it really mean?

First, they are going to ask you questions about your income and expenses. Then, they will take a look at your credit report to determine who you owe and how much you owe. Finally, they will give you some options based on the information they’ve gathered.

What Is a Credit Counseling Agency?

Credit counseling agencies help individuals in debt understand their finances and find a solution. They are usually nonprofit companies that may also provide debt management, pre-bankruptcy credit counseling, housing counseling and homebuyer education, and student loan counseling in addition to credit counseling.

Credit counseling from a nonprofit agency is free, however, nonprofits still need money to cover expenses. That means their revenue comes from other sources like grants and fees from debt management programs.

Debt management is a form of debt consolidation in which a credit counseling agency is the go-between you and your creditors. They have agreements in place to lower interest rates for qualified clients in order to make payments more affordable. The client makes one payment to the credit counseling agency, and they distribute the money to the client’s creditors.

Debt management is the real bread and butter of credit counseling agencies.

How to Find a Credit Counselor

The easiest way to find a credit counselor is through the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC). The NFCC is a nonprofit network of member agencies. In other words, they do not perform the credit counseling themselves. Rather, they will refer you to one of their member agencies, which must be properly vetted.

A credit counseling agency must meet these standards to become a member of the NFCC:

• Register as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
• Comply with the NFCC member quality standards
• Provide financial counseling in compliance with federal and state laws
• Be accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA)

The Financial Counseling Association of America (FCAA) is another network of member agencies similar to the NFCC.

All of the credit counseling agencies on our top five list are accredited by either the NFCC or the FCAA. If you see these accreditations, you should feel confident that they will be working in your best interest.