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Debt Counselling – Is This the Right Option for You?


Debt counselling, also known as credit counselling, is a common search result when people Google terms like ‘debt help’ and ‘debt problems’.

If you are having problems managing your debt load, then debt counselling may be one of your options. However, whether it will actually be sufficient to solve your problem, depends upon your specific circumstances.

The following are conditions that may suggest debt counseling could work for you:

  • You have a steady income
  •  No legal action has been taken against you
  •  Your assets exceed your debts
  •  You are able to afford to repay most of debt

So debt counselling may be an option if you are not in really deep trouble and advice will be sufficient to steer you in the right direction.

Unfortunately, this is not the case for many people. You may have already discovered that your circumstances are not as ‘rosy’ as the case we just described.

But let’s back up for a moment – there are really two questions you should be asking yourself right now:

  1. “What are my options?”
  2. “Which option is the most suitable for my situation?”

The best way to answer these questions is just what you are doing right now – research. So congratulations for making it this far. But don’t lose focus.

Many organizations in the debt counselling arena emphasize their status as ‘non-profit’ or as a ‘society’. Some try to imply that they would be more unbiased than other organizations in the debt-help space. This isn’t necessarily so, of course.

There is a distinct downside to going to an organization that only offers debt (or credit) counselling/settlement. Many claim that:

  • They can arrange to have your debt reduced to a small fraction of the original amount
  • They can easily (and quickly) fix your credit score problem
  • That their services are part of a government program

However, the government has issued numerous warnings to the public about such claims.

The best way to avoid any potential sharp practices is to seek out the help of a Licensed Insolvency Trustee (LIT). An LIT carries a license from the Canadian government and provides the widest range of debt solutions in Canada.

So keep going with your research, but make your next step a conversation with an LIT.

We offer free and confidential consultations in which you can explore all your options and discover the one that is best suited to you.

John Adamson, CPA, CMA

John is a Licensed Insolvency Trustee (1994), a Chartered Insolvency and Restructuring Professional (CIRP – 1994), and a Chartered Professional Accountant with a Certified Management Accounting designation (CPA, CMA – 1992). His experience includes more than 25 years of helping individuals, small businesses, their owners and even lenders, find solutions to their debt problems.

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