Q: What is Consumer Credit Counseling Services, how many people does it serve, and what’s the cost?
A: CCCS is a division of Money Management International, which has absorbed and taken on mergers throughout the country of CCCS outlets. Its headquarters are in Houston, and it has about 1,000 employees and offers counseling in all 50 states.
In Colorado alone, the number of clients counseled is between 600 and 700 families per month. Of late, with the housing realities, that number has increased.
They are of very individual scenarios. Reasons they come to us may be of their own doing or something uncontrollable, like a lost job or a divorce. We put together a picture of a client, what their situation is and talk about how they can work toward a resolution. A lot of it boils down to fundamentals like, “Let’s talk about your spending, your income and make sure they match up,” as opposed to living beyond their means and living upside down every month.
The cost is free, whether it’s budget or debt-credit counseling, reverse-mortgage counseling for individuals working on that. Bankruptcy counseling has a fee.
Q: What challenge do you face most frequently?
A: Lately, it’s meeting all of our clients’ needs. The housing sector has evolved with all these new local, regional and national programs that we always want to stay on top of so we can provide the best knowledge and education to our clients. I don’t define it as much a challenge as a reality of the industry, just keeping up. Keeping up with the credit industry and how they are always changing how they interact with consumers and vice versa.
Q: You came from California, where you did the same thing. In your position, how many states did you oversee there and how many here?
A: In California, where I was for two years, I oversaw California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. I’ve been here now for nearly three months, and I gave up only California and picked up Colorado and New Mexico, in addition to the others.
Q: Have you seen anything that seems unique to Colorado?
A: The one thing that stands out, compared to California, are payday loans. There seem to be a lot more clients coming in with payday-loan issues and concerns than we ever used to see in California. As I drove around there, I didn’t see one (payday-loan provider) on every block. As I drive around here, I do. So the ease of access to a payday-loan company is probably the No. 1 reason why more individuals have used them and may be in trouble with them.
Q: Do people typically come in for help when they desperately need it, instead of when trouble first starts?
A: Yes. Ideally, the benefit we provide through education and counseling would have the most impact early on in the process, as opposed to coming to us when you’re already 90 days delinquent on your mortgage or credit card. It’s harder to catch up and much easier to have a plan in place when you’re not as far behind.
Personally, I don’t care whether you come to our agency or a different one to get education and guidance before it’s too late, but just getting the message out there that help is available is the main thing.
When people come in late, you have the impact and the reality of the catch-up factor, whereas a minimum credit- card payment, if you’re current, might be 2 percent of their balance at an acceptable interest rate. Once you fall behind, that interest rate jacks up to — depending on the creditor — 29 percent, and you also get the late fees associated, and your debt is now more expensive. It becomes more complicated to unravel things once you’re behind.
Q: What’s the one tip you’d pass along to consumers?
A: We’re an advocate of the responsible use of credit. Credit has a great value to our society and to our economy, but, obviously, the abuse of it and not using it responsibly can get you into trouble. Probably the biggest message is to be responsible with credit and, knowing that agencies like us exist, to come to us early.
Q: What was your experience before CCCS?
A: I was in retail operations. I kind of came in a full circle, since my first job out of college (San Diego State University) with a degree in finance was with an agency that does something very similar to what we do here, and that is credit and budget counseling.
Basically I did that for about a year, got recruited to the for-profit world and was in that for many years. I made a very conscious, planned decision to come back to this business because it’s such a good and giving industry.
Q: Why was that a good move?
A: It’s very much about giving, a feel-good about what you do and what your agency is providing, and that’s what I felt like we do at Money Management. It’s about helping out our clients, as opposed to trying to maximize the bottom line, which is a lot of what the for-profit world is about.
Edited for length and clarity by David Migoya
