Credit counseling (known in the United Kingdom as debt counselling) is a process offering education to consumers about how to avoid incurring debts that cannot be repaid. This process is actually more debt counseling than a function of credit education.
Credit counseling often involves negotiating with creditors to establish a debt management plan (DMP) for a consumer. A DMP may help the debtor repay his or her debt by working out a repayment plan with the creditor. DMPs, set up by credit counselors, usually offer reduced payments, fees and interest rates to the client. Credit counselors refer to the terms dictated by the creditors to determine payments or interest reductions offered to consumers in a debt management plan.
Common features of Debt Management Programs
After joining a DMP, the creditors will close the customer's accounts and restrict the accounts to future charges. The most common benefit of a DMP as advertised by most agencies is the consolidation of multiple monthly payments into one monthly payment, which is usually less than the sum of the individual payments previously paid by the customer. This is because credit cards banks will usually accept a lower monthly payment from a customer in a DMP than if the customer were paying the account on their own. Some DMPs advertise that payments can be cut by 50%, although a reduction of 10-20% is more common.
The second feature of a DMP is a reduction in interest rates charged by creditors. A customer with a defaulted credit card account will often be paying an interest rate approaching 30%. Upon joining a DMP, credit card banks sometimes lower the annual percentage rates charged to 5-10%, and a few eliminate interest altogether. This reduction in interest allows the counseling agencies to advertise that their customers will be debt free in periods of 3-6 years, rather than the 20+ years that it would take to pay off a large amount of debt at high interest rates.
A third benefit offered by credit counseling agencies is the process of bringing delinquent accounts current. This is often called "reaging" or "curing" an account. This usually occurs after making a series of on-time payments through the debt management program as a show of good faith and commitment to completion of the program. For example, a client with an account with a monthly payment of $50 which has not been paid in two months might be considered by the creditor to be 60 days past due. After joining the DMP and making three consecutive monthly payments, the creditor could reage the account to reflect a current status. Thereafter the monthly payment due on the statements would be the monthly payment negotiated by the DMP, and the account report as current to the credit bureaus. It should be noted that this process does not eliminate the prior delinquencies from the credit bureau reports. It merely gives a fresh start and an opportunity for the client to begin building a positive credit history. Like all derogatory credit information, the passage of time will lessen the impact of the negative marks when credit scores are calculated.
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Author's Bio
This definition is part of a series that covers the topic of Debt and Debt Consolidation. The Official Guide to Debt and Debt Consolidation is Leo J. Quinn. Leo J. Quinn, Jr. has been teaching and motivating people all around the world to get out of debt as quickly as possible. His best-selling book, “How To Own Your Paycheck Again”, has transformed literally thousands of financial lives. He also authors a lively weekly newsletter and is a much sought-after speaker for self-help and marketing seminars. One of Leo's most important goals is to help people improve their overall attitude about money or their "Moneytude" as he calls it.
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