It’s true. Literally anyone can be a credit counselor. The credit counseling industry is unregulated and as a result you don’t have to have any special designation or degree to be a credit counselor. In fact you don’t even have to have good credit. Most importantly credit counselors can’t use the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act or any other legislation to help solve your money problems.
Which leads to the question, what can a credit counselor do to help solve your personal debt problems? The answer is simple, not much. The reality is credit counselors have no greater ability to negotiate with your creditors than you do. This isn’t a fact that they advertise or tell you when you meet with them. All a credit counselor can do is contact your creditors and ask them to reduce interest or change your payment terms. This is something you can do yourself.
You can contact your creditors directly and ask them to reduce interest or change your payment terms. The problem is that creditors can be difficult to deal with and they are often unresponsive to these requests. That’s why if you’re struggling with personal debt problems you are probably better off dealing with a licensed trustee in bankruptcy who can use the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act to help you get a fresh start.
However, please note that there are very good credit counselors out there. Click here to see some we recommend.
-Chris Welker
