Counseling for Credit Card Debt

If you had a personal problem that was too big for you to handle on your own, you may seek out the help of a counselor to help you.  If you are deep in credit card debt, the answer is really no different – you should go out and find counseling for that credit card debt.  Counseling a person with excessive credit card debt is much like counseling a person with personal problems.  The counselors give advice and coping strategies to help solve the problem.

There are literally hundreds of credit card debt counseling companies around the world and you want to make sure that you get one that is reputable and that can help you get out of debt.  What should you look for?  Here are a few things to consider:

- Make sure that the credit card debt counseling service is certified and accredited with a professional debt counseling association for reliability.  In order for companies to become a part of that reliability association, they have to pass a series of tests to insure that they can provide the required services to provide effective counseling for credit card debt.

- A good debt counseling company will be able to put together a debt repayment plan that is tailored to your specific needs.  If they try to sell you a “cookie cutter” debt repayment plan, they aren’t really counseling you with regards to your credit card – they are doing what they have to do in order to make money.

- Look for a debt counseling company that will charge you a percentage of the amount they will save you by negotiating with your creditors instead of a flat rate fee.  If they charge a percentage, in order to make the most money, they will want to work harder to make your savings higher.  By charging a flat rate fee, they know they are getting paid no matter what, so the incentive to work hard just won’t be there.

- Make sure you are getting a written agreement from the credit card debt counseling agency.  If they don’t give you the terms in writing – run fast the other way!

- Finally, make sure that all services are kept confidential.  The last thing you want is for people to be able to have access to your financial information, confidentiality is a must.

Getting counseling for your credit card debt is one of the most responsible things that you can do to become debt free and get out from under those bad financial decisions.  Just take our advice and get a credit card debt counseling company you can rely on and who will work for you not against you.
