Consumer Credit Counseling Services - Nonprofit Counseling

These days, you can find plenty of consumer credit counseling services that can help you manage your credit and debt. But they're not all created equally. Some are nonprofit agencies that offer counseling for little or no cost, while others are entirely profit driven.

In today's blog entry, I'm going to steer you in the right direction by providing a list of nonprofit credit counseling services. So without further ado, here are my top-three recommendations:

National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC)
This nonprofit organization has been around since 1951. They have a network of counselors across the United States, with more than 850 offices. So no matter where you live in the U.S., you can probably find a counselor within driving distance. Their headquarters is located in Silver Spring, Maryland. This nonprofit offers a full range of credit counseling services, including debt management.
Learn more at www.NFCC.org

Consumer Credit Counseling Services (CCCS)
This is another good option for nonprofit assistance. Their main office is located in Atlanta, Georgia, and they have other offices spread through the southeastern United States. They offer their counseling services to consumers across the U.S. It is a true nonprofit with 501(c) designation, and was originally founded in 1964. They offer counseling on debt management, credit, bankruptcy and more.
Learn more at www.CCCSatl.org

Springboard (Credit.org)
Springboard provides nonprofit consumer counseling on a variety of financial topics. This organization was founded in 1974, and they have offices in most (but not all) states across America. They offer a toll-free 800 number on their website, as well. They counsel consumers on housing-related issues, bankruptcy filing, credit score improvement, debt reduction and more.
Learn more at www.Credit.org

Watch Out for Fake Nonprofits

Unfortunately, there is no shortage of companies that take advantage of people in financial distress. One of their favorite tricks is to position themselves as nonprofits, when in fact they are entirely profit driven.

Do a Google search for the phrase nonprofit consumer credit counseling and you'll see what I mean. In the "Sponsored Links" section, you'll find many companies that operate under a pure profit model. They pay to show up on Google results for various "nonprofit" phrases, and some of them even use that word in their search engine ads.

Here's the bottom line. Almost all of the companies that pay for Google listings (i.e., those that show up in the "Sponsored Links" section of results) are profit-driven companies. Very few of the true nonprofits pay for sponsored links, because they don't have money for that sort of thing -- being nonprofits and all. I recommend that you avoid the pretenders and stick with the three credit counseling services I've listed above.