If you are having trouble keeping up with your bills or if your credit score has taken a hit and you want to work on improving it, you might want to work with a credit counselor. Credit counseling can help you get your financial affairs back in order and keep you from getting into bad situations such as foreclosure or bankruptcy.
Just as with any profession, there are good credit counseling businesses and bad ones. How do you make sure you are getting good credit counseling? Here are some tips.
Find a licensed and accredited firm
You want to make sure that any credit counseling firm you work with is licensed by the state and accredited by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. Companies that are licensed and accredited will have a good track record of helping people and providing advice that is accurate and helpful.
Work with a non-profit
Your best bet to get good credit counseling advice is to work with a non-profit. Non-profit credit counseling firms exist to help people with their finances, and since there is no profit motivation, you won’t have to worry about being pressured to buy add-on services. Non-profit credit counseling firms also often provide services that are either free or have a very low cost.
Do your due diligence
Before signing up with a credit counseling firm, be it a non-profit one or a for-profit one, be sure to research it fully. Check state and federal sources to see if the firm has faced formal complaints. Check out its rating with the Better Business Bureau. Do an online and social media search to see what kinds of reviews the business has and what experiences people have had using its services.
Trust your gut
You can do everything right in choosing a legitimate credit counseling agency and still have a bad result if you don’t feel good on a personal level. That’s why it’s important to follow your instincts. No matter how good a firm looks on paper, it has to feel right and you have to feel comfortable with the people you are working with. If they don’t instill confidence or if there is a clash of personalities, then you may not have a good result.
