By Bud Wassell, Director, Solutions EAP

If you’ve tried calling the credit card companies yourself and are having trouble negotiating, you can seek help from a Consumer Credit Counseling Service. The agency we use is American Consumer Credit Counseling (ACCC), and they agreed that you can try on your own first, but they can sometimes arrange a debt management plan with your creditors that you could not.

A Debt Management Plan can help you resolve credit problems, get back on track and pay down debt. When appropriate, the consumer credit counseling agency serves as an impartial intermediary. They negotiate with your creditors to establish a reasonable and mutually acceptable repayment plan. Once enrolled in a Debt Management Plan, you make a single, convenient monthly deposit and they disburse it to your creditors on your behalf. As a result, most creditor calls stop and high interest rates and other fees may be reduced or even eliminated.

To access ACCC call us at 800-526-3485 and we will put you in touch with them to start the process. It is done by telephone and they are available through the evenings and 10:00 – 6:00 on Saturdays. Another option is Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Southern New England, 866-889-9347 or http://www.creditcounseling.org/ In Connecticut you can see a counselor in-person in East Hartford or Milford or talk to them by phone. Both of these agencies are non-profit, have a good track record and are affiliated with the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies and National Foundation of Credit Counseling, respectively. Spanish language assistance is available.

Consumer credit counseling agencies also offer other services such as personal financial/budget counseling, bankruptcy counseling and housing advisement. They also have financial calculators, home buying advice, identity theft information and other financial resources.

More Money Resources:
https://www.annualcreditreport.com This central site allows you to request a free credit file disclosure, commonly called a credit report, once every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Be careful, there are other sites that offer “free” credit reports that are actually tied to the purchase of credit monitoring services. AnnualCreditReport.com is the official site to help consumers to obtain their free credit report.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a website devoted to investor education: http://investor.gov/ Information is the investor’s best tool when it comes to investing wisely. Learn more about getting smart about investing, testing your “Money Smarts,” find out about questions to ask about investing as well as investing online.

If you would like to talk about this or any other problem or concern, please call Solutions Employee
Assistance Program at 1-800-526-3485 or www.solutions-eap.com
George "Bud" Wassell, M.S., LPC, CEAP
Director, Solutions EAP
213 Court Street
Middletown, CT 06457
800-526-3485
fax: 860-704-6221
http://www.solutions-eap.com