Credit Counselling
Debt Counselling is a Usefull Tool!

Colleen Craig, as a licensed Insolvency Professional, can walk you through a monthly budgeting process to help you take control over your finances. Prior to making a decision as to how to proceed, Colleen and her staff will sit down with you for a free consultation and review your monthly family budget. Once prepared, your budget will help the Trustee outline your options. Bankruptcy might not be the right solution for everyone and Colleen can help outline alternatives that can work for you. See Consumer Proposal.Credit Counselling is part of any insolvency service provided by Colleen Craig based on her years of experience and her qualifications as a BIA Insolvency Counsellor.

Credit Counsellors other than a Trustee

Credit Counselling is a general term and anyone who wants to use the title, can. In British Columbia there are NO provincially run or subsidized programs. Everyone that helps you with your debt does so for a fee. "Not-for-Profit" organizations also charge fees of you and your creditors.

Credit Counsellors

Generally these agencies act as the"middle man" with your creditors. Over time these agencies have developed relationships with some of the major credit granters, which allows them to offer reduced interest on your debts or sometimes reduced payments. These agencies allow you to make one payment to them and they will funnel these payments to your creditors once they have deducted their fees. The amount of fees charged, the reporting that is done to you, the creditors that can be part of a repayment plan (i.e. Credit Counsellors are not able to compromise Canada Revenue Agency Debt) as well as their licensing requirements (some are licensed as bailiffs under the Debt Collection Act, if they have a license at all) fluctuates between each agency. Anyone can call themselves a "credit counsellor" so as a debtor you must be extremely careful that any plans prepared by these agencies are reasonable for you and that the fees that you are charged are reasonable and accurately disclosed. If you are going to talk to a credit counsellor, ask for their qualifications and an outline of training that they have completed.

Typically under this option you pay 100% of your debts back plus interest and fees.

Trustees in Bankruptcy are federally regulated, licensed, and subject to specific Codes of Conduct. As well, everything that the Trustee does, including the fees that can be charged, are published and subject to government and court review and approval. When dealing with a Trustee, you always know what you are getting and you have access to an ombudsman in the federal government and The Court if you are unhappy with the process or feel that you are being treated unfairly.

As reported on the Canlaw web site as of January 2007, "Is Credit Counselling a Good Idea?" Investigate before you Act. While credit counselling services are generally presented as not-for-profit, unbiased, consumer debt counselling services, they are also often franchises and collect a fee from your creditors for collecting your payments. Not-for-profit does not mean that the employees and/or owners are not taking salaries for their services and growing the business.