The InCharge Education Foundation COPE™ Scale
Click Here for a financial wellness checkup!
The Impact of Credit Counseling on Subsequent Borrower Credit Usage and Payment Behavior
CREDIT RESEARCH CENTER - MONOGRAPH #36
Background: In 2001, between 2.0 and 2.5 million Americans felt themselves under sufficient financial pressure to seek advice and other assistance from a credit counseling agency, sometimes prior to bankruptcy but mostly as an alternative to bankruptcy.
Member agencies of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), the nation’s oldest and largest network of non-profit credit counseling agencies, counseled over 880,000 new clients in 2000, more than twice the number counseled in 1990.
Clients counseled by NFCC agencies receive a comprehensive budget review and written action plan. For about one-third of all NFCC-agency clients, the agency actively intervenes with creditors to arrange a Debt Management Plan (DMP) and creditor concessions in the form of reduced interest rates, fees and minimum payments. For the other two-thirds of counseled clients, the agency provides the budget review, education, advice, possibly referrals to social-service agencies or other institutions to solve specific problems, and recommendations for specific changes in the client’s behavior.
