Inflation continues to have a big impact on Americans’ budgets with many falling behind on their car loans and credit cards. NBC News’ Tom Costello has more details on the debt impacting wallets across the country.

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Judith explains how she got into debt and how debt review helped her get her life in order. She also has some advice for current over-indebted consumers.

Is debt counselling a scam – or does it really work?

What is mandatory credit counselling?
Credit counselling refers to the two counselling sessions, a person filing bankruptcy or a consumer proposal, is required to take before he can be discharged from bankruptcy.
Usually the counselling sessions are held at the trustee office.
The purpose of the counselling sessions is to provide financial information skills to the debtor in the hope that these skills will better prepare the debtor to make sound financial decisions.
The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy has provided the following standards for trustees to follow:
First Counselling Stage — Consumer and Credit Education
The qualified counsellor shall present information to provide the bankrupt and/or relative, or a consumer debtor, with consumer advice in the areas of:
(i) money management;
(ii) spending and shopping habits;
(iii) warning signs of financial difficulties; and
(iv) obtaining and using credit.
Second Counselling Stage — Identification of Roadblocks to Solvency and Rehabilitation
The second stage is to determine the budgetary and/or non-budgetary causes of insolvency or bankruptcy and requires that the qualified counsellor:
(a) follow up on the application by the debtor of the principles presented in the first stage to assist the debtor, to better understand his or her strengths and weaknesses with regard to money management and budgeting skills;
(b) assist, where appropriate, the bankrupt and/or relative, or a consumer debtor:
(i) to identify the non-budgetary causes (such as gambling abuse, compulsive behaviour, substance abuse, employment and marital or family difficulties) that may have contributed to his or her financial difficulties;
(ii) to better understand his or her behaviour in financial management and consumption habits; and
(iii) to make him or her aware of the existence of resources that will help him or her achieve and maintain economic stability; and
(c) cooperatively with the debtor, develop recommendations and alternatives for a financial plan of action that, if appropriate, may include referral for specialized counselling to deal with non-budgetary causes of insolvency.

So does counselling succeed in its objective to better educate debtors so they can better manage with their finances? Some trustees think that counselling is very useful; or even essential.
Saul Schwartz: Counselling the Overindebted: A Comparative Perspective (2005) https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/bsf-osb.nsf/vwapj/Schwartz-2005-ENG.pdf/$FILE/Schwartz-2005-ENG.pdf
Trustees as Noted by Saul Schwartz’s Study (above):
The trustee supports mandatory counselling despite believing, as do most trustees, that bankruptcy is not often an avoidable consequence of personal irresponsibility or ignorance.

Many trustees believe that their clients’ bankruptcies are unavoidable because they are caused by events such as unemployment, illness or family disruption.
I think that counselling is ineffective for the reasons I give in this article. https://www.bankruptcycanada.com/why-counselling-should-be-discontinued.htm

When a consumer (client) realizes that he/she is over indebted and that some arrangements have to be made to make sure all monthly repayments are met.
The consumer contacts a registered Debt Counselor who supplies a regulated form 16 and assists with the completion thereof. As soon as this form is completed the consumer will have formally applied for debt review in terms of the Act.
All requested documentation as on the application form is supplied by the consumer within 5 days of signing the form 16.
With the information and supporting documents supplied by the consumer the debt counselor now informs all the known creditors of the consumer that the said consumer has applied for debt review. This is done with the regulated form 17.1 as well as 17.2
A formal analysis is done by the Debt counselor to determine if the consumer is indeed over indebted. This is a very simple calculation once all information has been taken into account. A consumer can only apply for debt counseling if his/her monthly disbursable amount (Nett income minus living expenses) is LESS than the amount required to service all obligations. AS EXAMPLE ONLY. If the consumer only has R5000 to pay his/her debt after the living expenses have been accounted for, and the total monthly debt repayments are R6000 the application would be a success.
If the consumer is indeed over indebted according to the above method all creditors would be informed of this for their record.
The restructuring process can now begin. The Debt counselor will now restructure and renegotiate all credit agreements and present these proposed terms to all creditors. This new proposal will then restructure the consumer’s monthly commitments to be more affordable and ensure that all credit agreements get something every month.
. The new proposal will now be sent out to all the creditors after it has been approved by the consumer. Should all creditors agree to a consent order that new arrangement will be made an order of court. If there are some creditors who don’t agree to the restructuring a court date will be allocated for the matter to be heard. At this hearing the magistrate will have no choice to grant the order if the debt counselor acted in terms of the Act and subsequently restructured the debt accordingly.
All disbursements of contributions will be handled by a registered Payment Distribution Agency (PDA). The PDA is regulated and governed by the Act. As soon as a restructuring proposal is agreed on by the consumer payments of the distribution amount will be paid over from the consumer directly to the PDA. The PDA in turn will disburse with the funds as per the restructuring proposals.
The Fee structure:
Debt counselors are entitled to a maximum of R6000 plus VAT for single applications and R4000 plus VAT for a joint application.
The Act allows for the following payment of Debt counselor fees as well as Legal fees.
The first payment made by the PDA will pay the debt counselors fee
The second payment will pay the legal fees
The third payment will be the first payment that creditors receive. This is done so that consumers don’t have to pay any money that they might not have up front, and to make the process affordable.
When the payments are being made to the creditors by the PDA there will be some agreements that will be paid up before others. As soon as this happens the Debt counselor must restructure the payments again to make sure any creditor is not paid more than he must receive and to disburse the surplus equally between the other to ensure that the process runs smoothly. For this the Debt counselor is entitled to a 5% after care fee not exceeding R400.

Approximately 1 in 8 Americans hold student loan debt. Amy Richardson, a certified financial planner with Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Premium, joined CBSN’s Tanya Rivero with tips for how new college graduates entering the workforce can pay off debt and save money.

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In this episode, we are talking about debt review. What debt Review really means and the right tools you need before you can sign up for it or if you know someone who might need it.

To check the registration of a Debt Counselor please click here:

https://ncr.org.za/register_of_registrants/registered_dc.php

In this video Revolved Realty Managing Partner covers the differences between Credit Repair and Debt Consolidation, and how each can affect your ability to get a home mortgage…. ? ??
? Your credit score — or FICO — is how banks, mortgage companies, and other lenders judge your credit worthiness.
? The higher your FICO score, the easier it is to get credit and the better terms you command. The lower your score… well… you know…
? If your credit score is low there are things you can do to improve it. It may take some time, but the best time to start is today. ??

This video is sponsored by The Mortgage Firm and Jacob Title.

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Sow a Seed and watch it grow! To find out more about how you can see MIRACLES HAPPEN in your finances visit JoanHunter.org