We try to stay on budget but there are times when a budget just doesn’t work. In times of crisis we may find ourselves behind in our payments and our source of income has been suddenly interrupted. An unforeseen illness or accident can cause a financial setback. As a major bread winner, you are unable to work because of injury, or the mounting medical bills have put you behind and your bills are mounting. This is a setback that you may not be able to recover from on your own. If you find yourself in a financial bind and don’t see any way to pay your creditors and save your credit rating. It may be time to look into non profit counseling debt consolidation.

On first contact you will be speaking to a Certified Credit Counselor who will ask you a few key questions about your finances and income. After reviewing your application, the credit counselor will suggest a variety of options for you to clean up your debts. They will work with you to formulate a debt consolidation program tailored to your individual needs.

You will be sent a simple agreement stating the terms you have agreed on over the phone. If the agreement is correct, you will sign it and send it back to the non profit counseling debt consolidation company. Once they receive the signed agreement, they will get your plan underway.

They will begin by contacting your creditors to negotiate lower interest rates and to lower or eliminate late fees. They will also work to get your outstanding debt lowered by 50 to 80%. Once it is established how much of a reduction you will receive the credit counselor will give you an amount you will pay to them each month. They will take your payment and disburse the money to each of your creditors.

It is important to know that non profit does not necessarily mean free. Most of the time the non profit counseling debt consolidation companies will charge a fee for their services. Your monthly payment will have the fee added in. You need to be clear on the amount they expect to be paid, and when they will be paying your creditors. Do your homework, there are some disreputable companies out there so make sure both sides are clear on the terms of the agreement before you send any money.

The credit counselor should be reachable if you need to ask any questions about your account and should be there every step of the way, until the debt consolidation program is finished. Many times your credit counselor will have access to teaching materials to help improve the way you look at and use credit, and how to improve your finances and stay debt free. As your debts are paid you will learn a great deal about the financial world.

You will be surprised at how quickly your debt will be reduced. Your creditors will still send you monthly statements. And the non profit counseling debt consolidation company will also send you a monthly statement with a breakdown of the debts that have been paid on. Your monthly payments will not change over the course of the debt consolidation program. Once a debt is paid in full, the money from that payment will go toward your other debts to pay them off even faster.