Money Talks News: The Woman with the Award-Winning Debt
Credit Counseling Is Easy – and Hard
For a long time, Francine knew she was in trouble but did nothing about it.
“I was not sleeping, trying to figure out how I was going to pay my bills,” she says. “One morning, I just said, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’ and called.”
She knew credit counseling could help – and she had learned from her research to be wary of for-profit counseling services but to seek out nonprofits.
She settled on HCCI, a member of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. NFCC was founded in 1951 and is the nation’s largest and oldest national nonprofit credit counseling association.
“I thought I was going to feel really stupid going in there,” Francine says. “But when I came out of my first meeting, I felt like weight had been lifted.”
It wasn’t easy, though. The hardest part was walking into a meeting with “a big fat folder” of all her bills. “You have to admit there’s a problem,” Francine says.
Then you have to get to work. The counselor urged Francine and Jim to draw up a budget. It took three tries to get it right.
“We had to keep coming back because I wasn’t realizing I needed to give up 100 channels on my cable,” she says, “especially when I was only watching four. I didn’t quite understand the concept.”
Even worse, “I didn’t know how much debt I had – because I didn’t want to know.” She wouldn’t let the counselor tell her, either. Instead, the counselor wrote it on a piece of paper, and Francine looked at it when she got home.
(iStock)
More from Money Talks News:
Ask Stacy: Where Can I Go for Help with Debt?
Dealing with Debt: Credit Counseling
Will Credit Counseling Hurt My Credit Score?
The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.
“I was not sleeping, trying to figure out how I was going to pay my bills,” she says. “One morning, I just said, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’ and called.”
She knew credit counseling could help – and she had learned from her research to be wary of for-profit counseling services but to seek out nonprofits.
She settled on HCCI, a member of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. NFCC was founded in 1951 and is the nation’s largest and oldest national nonprofit credit counseling association.
“I thought I was going to feel really stupid going in there,” Francine says. “But when I came out of my first meeting, I felt like weight had been lifted.”
It wasn’t easy, though. The hardest part was walking into a meeting with “a big fat folder” of all her bills. “You have to admit there’s a problem,” Francine says.
Then you have to get to work. The counselor urged Francine and Jim to draw up a budget. It took three tries to get it right.
“We had to keep coming back because I wasn’t realizing I needed to give up 100 channels on my cable,” she says, “especially when I was only watching four. I didn’t quite understand the concept.”
Even worse, “I didn’t know how much debt I had – because I didn’t want to know.” She wouldn’t let the counselor tell her, either. Instead, the counselor wrote it on a piece of paper, and Francine looked at it when she got home.
(iStock)
More from Money Talks News:
Ask Stacy: Where Can I Go for Help with Debt?
Dealing with Debt: Credit Counseling
Will Credit Counseling Hurt My Credit Score?
The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.
