HOW WE CAN HELP

We provide free, non biased, confidential counselling and debt management services to any interested persons residing within Sault Ste. Marie & District. Our professional counsellors will go through a detailed financial assessment with you, and will help to identify all possible solutions to your financial problems. We can assist you by:

• 

  Setting up a Debt Management Program and reducing your debt payments based on your ability to pay, (this helps many people avoid bankruptcy), or

• Negotiating with a creditor on your behalf, in order to resolve a conflict situation, or

• Helping you to improve your money management/budget planning ,or

• Identifying solutions and related implications as well as informing you of all your rights so that you can confidently proceed with actions on your own.

SERVICES PROVIDED

The first step that is needed is to have you in for a no obligation, confidential appointment which will take approximately one hour.

A professional credit counsellor will sit down with you and work out a detailed financial assessment looking at income, expenses, assets and debts.

Once your financial situation has been reviewed, the counsellor will discuss the financial options available to you and the implications each option will have. The next step is to chose the best solution based on your goals.

Debt Repayment Programs

This program is designed for people who can not realistically afford to pay their creditors the required monthly payments. We will negotiate with your creditors and attempt to get your payments reduced to meet your ability to pay. Our goal is to have debts repaid in four years or less. Many creditors will help you to achieve this goal by reducing or eliminating your interest rate.

You then make one payment to Credit Counselling Service and we disburse the money on your behalf, directly to your creditors. Creditor support for this program is very high as they believe in our assessments and they know that our debt repayment programs work well for the client, the creditor and the community as a whole.

The end result is that you are able to pay your creditors back, you do not have to declare bankruptcy and you will have enough money to adequately cover all of your necessary living expenses. Clients report that their stress levels drop dramatically after entering a repayment program and that their sense of well being is restored.

Helping Resolve Creditor Problems

Your counsellor can contact a creditor you are having trouble with and attempt to negotiate a successful resolution on your behalf. With this program you will continue to pay the creditor directly and the Credit Counselling intervention is only short term.

Money Management / Budget Counselling

No one is born with the ability to manage money effectively. Managing money is a skill. Like most skills it requires learning and practice. If you require, your counsellor will assist you in; planning for the future, setting financial goals, assessing your current situation, developing a realistic budget, ensuring expenses do not exceed income, developing a savings plan, distinguishing between needs and wants, developing a means of tracking where all your money goes, learning how to use credit wisely and avoiding its pitfalls. This entire process is very individualized and based on your needs and goals.

Other Solutions

If the above three programs are not appropriate to resolve your problem we will help you to identify other possible solutions that are available to you. We can discuss the effects of a bankruptcy, of court action, collection agencies, credit rating, or any other area that may be applicable. In each circumstance we can help to explain what rights you and your creditors have and what the implications will be to you. We will then give you any needed direction to help you reach your goals and resolve your debt/money management