Hundreds and hundreds of non-profit and for-profit organizations offering credit counseling, debt management and low-interest debt consolidation loans were created in the USA and Canada within the last five years.
The largest network is the 1,450 local offices of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, a fifty-year-old foundation with strict accreditation rules and certification processes for financial advisors. Ten years ago, there were just 200 credit-counseling organizations around the country and 90% of them belonged to the NFCC.
No wonder, because Americans are in debt up to their eyeballs. The greater majority of seniors are on fixed incomes, and carrying an average of over $5,000 in credit-card debt. College graduates are also in jeopardy from credit-card debts that average $2,200, on top of student loans that average about $40,000. If the present recession in the economy continues, a growing number of people won't be able to keep up.