How a Credit Counselor Can Help Get Your Debt Under Control
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Here's your money briefing for Wednesday, December 28th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. All this week we're talking about how to get yourself out of debt. Yesterday we went over some simple steps to start the process, but the maze of paperwork and the emotional toll of debt can be debilitating. Sometimes it takes another person, a credit counselor, to help see the bigger picture.
We go over a very rigorous budget with the consumer and we really get a good understanding of where they're spending their money. If John Smith lives in Nebraska and he has a family of six, we know that the food budget should be around this, the electricity budget should be around that.
On today's show, we'll talk with Jim Triggs, president and CEO of Money Management International, about how to find a credit counselor and avoid scams from people who claim to be one. That's after the break.
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Paying your way out of past debt is no small task. And for many of us, it's more than one person can take on a loan. A credit counselor can be the extra set of eyes you need to map out a plan to get out of the red. But what do credit counselors actually do? And how do you find one you can trust? Jim Triggs is president and CEO of Money Management International, a nonprofit that offers financial counseling and debt relief. And he joins us now. Jim, thanks very much for being with us.
Thanks for having me, JR. Appreciate it.
So Jim, first of all, why might somebody need the help of a credit counselor? And what kind of people tend to benefit from it?
Consumers who are struggling financially, whether it's with making their mortgage payments on time or paying off their debt. Consumers that struggle with a lot of credit card debt, maybe personal loans, really any sort of consumer financial credit matter. If you're struggling to make payments, just barely getting by, a credit counselor can certainly help provide you with options and perhaps set a nice path for you to get out of debt.
And I'm sure people have a general idea of this, but can you just kind of walk us through what a credit counselor actually does? You know, what does it look like from the consumer's perspective?
They put the consumers at ease. They let consumers know that they understand that they're great people and things were probably going really well for them at one point. And then something happened in their life that tripped them up. A lot of folks feel guilty or feel embarrassed about having to reach out for help. And we know that things happen, especially in this economy, with interest rates going up and credit card balances going up and inflation the way it is. It's really hard to get by, especially if you were struggling to get by before all of these things were going on. So once we set the consumer at ease, then we look at their entire situation. We look at all their debts, their anything they're paying out to creditors.
We look at their budget. And with all of that, we pull their credit report with their permission.
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