Criticism of Credit Counseling - Page 4

Counseling agencies have also been criticized for understating their clients' future responsibilities during the initial enrollment process. Agencies have been accused of telling clients to stop paying creditors directly and to then keep the first payment made by the client into the DMP to cover fees. This can result in accounts being charged off during the period that the client transitions into the DMP. Many clients come to the DMP with current accounts; they are simply seeking lower interest rates rather than needing help bringing their accounts current. Since a DMP is designed for consumers who are having trouble meeting obligations it is usually the case that any consumer joining a DMP already has past due accounts. For consumers who do not have past due accounts they must be aware that creditors will carry them past due since that creditor is giving the consumer a concession on the amount of interest charged. In this way a client's credit can be damaged as the accounts unintentionally fall past due.

Given this criticism, the industry is likely to be changed forever in the immediate future as it is scrutinized by both the consumer and government regulators over how they will be paid for the services they perform. In meantime, there will be no shortage of debt-burdened consumers who will now be facing a burgeoning, and more traditional, collection industry.

It should also be noted that many credit counseling services employ people hired off the street whom are then trained in credit counseling. Thus the person helping you may not have any formal training in financial management other than what they received when they got hired as a credit counselor. This training is usually minimal and focused only on the services provided rather than a full course on financial management.

By Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org Jan 26, 2009