Credit counseling is one component of financial counseling, where you work with a counselor to evaluate your credit health. Our financial counselors can help you establish or rebuild your credit, even if you are also receiving debt counseling.
The goals of credit counseling are:
- Improved Credit Score: A higher credit score can reduce your borrowing costs in the future and allow you to better qualify for the home or car you desire. Higher credit scores show creditors you are a lower risk, and therefore deserving of consideration for approval with preferred interest rates. Even your auto insurance can be cheaper with a higher credit score.
- Lower Interest Rates: In addition to getting lower rates on future purchases, credit counseling could allow you to get lower interest rates on your current unsecured debt balances. An experienced credit counselor can show you how to position yourself for lower rates, request lower rates and actually receive interest rate reductions.
- Minimum Payment Flexibility: Once you benefit from a higher credit score and lower interest rates, you will find that your required minimum monthly payments on credit cards can drop substantially. Lower monthly payments can help you better afford all of your bills.
- Understand Credit Scores: Our seminars and individual counseling sessions can show you how your credit scores are calculated. You will understand how previous decisions that you made helped or harmed your credit. We can enable you to make good credit decisions in the future. Discover credit score information that may help you!
Credit Counseling Methods
- Raise Credit Score: You can raise your damaged credit score by bringing accounts current, paying down debt balances and establishing on-time payment histories.
- Credit Report Reviews: We can help you order your free credit report and review it with you. See what is on your file and find out how you can dispute or correct inaccurate information.
- Establish Credit: Sometimes you may lack the credit you need to prove you can pay for larger credit purchases. Find out what to look for in credit offers and how to gain approval.
