Where to Find Debt Consolidation Counseling Services
You may gain access to debt consolidation counseling services in your locality by perusing the list of Certified Personal Financial Wellness Consultants trained and qualified by the NFEC. These debt counselors are positioned all around the nation and have been certified to meet peak standards in the industry, so you can be reassured that they are professional and recognize a responsibility for helping their clients reach financial well-being.
NFEC Financial Coaches have an overarching goal of giving people resources and assistance to increase their financial security. Put simply, these debt counselors place your success at the top of their priority lists. They have educational resources at their fingertips and can provide you with direction and support. Beyond just debt counseling, NFEC Financial Coaches strive to understand their clients’ situations via empirical analytics, reveal your needs and goals, prioritize solid milestones, offer guidance and learning, and hold you accountable for your own progress.
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Credentials of a Certified Personal Finance Counselor
There’s no specific requirement for calling oneself a debt counselor. However, a certified debt counselor such as a NFEC Financial Coach is distinguished far above the average because of the credentials they’ve earned. Becoming certified by the NFEC requires assuming fiduciary responsibility to the client. These debt counselors have fulfilled hundreds of educational hours, withstood a stringent background check, and earned a score of at least 80% on a tough examination. Additionally, NFEC Financial Coaches must prove their implementation capabilities via practicing their skills under the eye of a trained supervisor; then document and report the outcomes of these practice sessions.
When the NFEC was developing its criteria for NFEC Financial Coach qualification, they consulted regulations from four industries: counseling, education, consumer protection, and psychology. They relied upon these industries because debt counselors are handling a delicate, potentially emotional topic – people’s money. The charge of debt consolidation counseling services is to help individuals establish their goals and priorities, then offer guidance and support as clients work through an action plan to arrive at greater financial health.
How NFEC Certified Debt Counselors Differ from the Median
The most frequent service a financial counselor offers is someone with whom to talk. NFEC Financial Coaches differ from this median service level by offering counseling that addresses a much fuller extent of topics. To support this statement with data, we conducted a Google search with the term ‘financial counseling,’ which turned up 137 sites in the top 50 results pages. Among those 137, 26 had service packages and prices shown upfront.
The data indicated that talk with the counselor (via phone or possibly email) was the most common service offered, followed by supplying educational materials. A sparse number of the 26 debt consolidation counseling services would provide a personal finance plan, and but two were able to do re-planning.
At Which Life Stages do Debt Consolidation Counseling Services Make Sense?
Debt consolidation counseling services generally are limited to those issues related to debt management, debt consolidation, and credit repair. These services may be relevant at any life stage where a client is facing a high debt load or has damaging marks on his/her credit report.
NFEC Financial Coaches – trained and certified by the NFEC – contrast with these more limited offerings by serving people who need support across a comprehensive breadth of financial areas. Thus they are prepared to work with clients at a variety of personal finance life stages. A NFEC Financial Coach is tasked not only to help people face their current financial challenges, but also to move closer to financial wellness. And as a client’s situation progresses, the NFEC Financial Coach re-evaluates that status and assists the client with appropriate plan modification.
First, Appreciate and Strategize
The service of a NFEC Financial Coach occurs across four phases. First, the counselor will conduct an understanding phase which goes far beyond debt consolidation counseling services. He or she will gauge your present financial situation, standard of living needs, and prospective goals by exploring your full personal finance profile, including all the facets of your situation: income, credit, assets, liabilities, debt, insurance, etc.
This comprehensive understanding is needed because the counselor will then generate a thorough Personal Finance Plan specific to you. That’s because the NFEC Financial Coach has been prepared above the average credit counselor training programs. You will be given the report in written form and it will include priority steps and actions. From there, the NFEC Financial Coach will steer and support you to progress toward each of your custom objectives.
Next, Point the Way and Teach
An essential piece of this process is keeping your information up-to-the-minute. Your counselor will assess where you stand and give you status reports in writing. That way, you can see your own progress and honor your achievements, and the NFEC Financial Coach can make empirically sound recommendations for adapting your plan. Clearly this goes beyond simple debt settlement credit counseling.
Then, Maintain and Encourage
The third phase occurs when your original priorities are met, and the NFEC Financial Coach has guided you to form a sound personal finance foundation. Then the counselor makes a segue into a support and encouragement role. You have latitude to make your own choices, and the counselor will offer help on an as-needed basis.
Another piece of this phase is continuing instruction. You may need a specific piece of information, or the financial landscape may change. At such points, the NFEC Financial Coach will jump in. She or he also can remind you of important dates/deadlines, and stay within reach for when you must make key financial life decisions.
Finally, Provide Associations with Key Experts
The fourth and last level of NFEC Financial Coach services – as distinguished from debt consolidation counseling services – is where the counselor can link you with professional experts in those niche areas that match your specific question. That is to say, at certain life stages, you’ll be required to make particular money decisions. When you reach a crossroads, the NFEC has a professional team with expertise in exactly those arenas.
Please also note that all these expert professionals are 100% independent and place your needs as top priority. They do not sell or promote financial products. They also can be distinguished from the many debt relief scams that currently exist in the marketplace.
