Most of what credit counselors do you can do for yourself. But, if you’re too emotionally involved with your money situation to create and stick with a plan and negotiate with your creditors then using a credit counselor may be a good option for you!

Credit or budget counselors, including those who are listed as being with Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) or Genus/National Credit Counseling Service (NCCS) are non-profit organizations that offer free budget counseling and (for a small fee which is often rolled into your monthly payments), debt repayment plans.

With a credit or budget counselor, you set up a workable budget and send one lump sum payment to credit counseling service so they can divide money up among your creditors. Your budget may seem tight at first, but you will find that you could be completely debt free within 3 years if you stick to repayment plan!

Most credit and budget counselors work with your creditors to get them to accept smaller payments from you, and attempt to freeze or lower interest rates and late payment or over-the-limit fees. In addition, once you’ve entered into a repayment plan with counselor, harassing phone calls from creditors will stop. Even if you choose to set up your own repayment plan, instead of going through credit counselor, you can get free budget assistance from them!

If you do decide to us credit counselor’s debt repayment program, be sure to ask these questions before you sign up:

You can become debt-free and STAY debt-free if you follow these practical and spiritual tips. Money is energy. Nothing less, nothing more. It does not have any power to control your actions...only your thoughts control your actions. Our thoughts about money usually fall in one of three planes. At bottom is where you’ll find most of us. This is where we spend our energy and time worrying about and talking about our money problems. Where we spend most of our time saying things like “I’m not going to have enough money to...”

You can take first step toward breaking debt cycle by elevating your thinking. You can start elevating your thinking to next level BY SETTING GOALS FOR YOURSELF. This level is where we spend our energy and time saying things like “I want to achieve this goal I’ve set, BUT I’ve got these money problems...” If you’re already on this level, congratulate yourself! You’re one step closer to permanent prosperity already!

You’ll reach third and highest level once you make a committed effort to put following ten tips to use in your life. When you’ve reached this plane, you’ll find yourself saying things like “I have this goal, and it may be a very tiny goal, but it is my goal, and this is next step I’m going to take to make this goal a reality.”

For example, if you’re worried right now about meeting this month’s mortgage payment, and your goal is to come up with enough money to pay mortgage by date it’s due, then you’re on your way. Several of tips below will immediately generate cash on hand to help you make your goal a reality. Other tips will help you build a foundation underneath you, so that more cash will come to you.

I encourage you to start putting each of these tips to use in your life TODAY. Work toward progress, not perfection. Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t do everything at once. Take it a step at a time and keep moving forward. Above all else, know that YOU ARE PROSPEROUS!

1: FREE UP THE TRAPPED PROSPERITY IN YOUR LIFE. Release things that take up “space” in your life. Friends who sap your energy and provide nothing in return. Books, clothes, food, what are you stockpiling that you don’t use? Look at everything you haven’t used in over a year and find a way to sell it or trade it in.

2: PAY WHAT YOU CAN NOW. If you have debts to pay, and you have savings, don’t withhold money and say, “I’ll pay these debts later, when I have more money so I don’t have to touch my savings.” Free up that money, put it into universe. You can’t get a flow of money coming in to you unless you have a flow of money coming out. Don’t put off paying what you can pay today.