Working with a credit counsleor will help you pay off debt fast and manage your personal finances more efficiently. Our free credit advice is personalized to your unique situation.
The details on your credit report, like your credit score, directly impact your everyday financial well-being. Your credit score influences your ability to secure the best interest rates on loans, helps you qualify for housing, rentals or a mortgage, and even plays a role in obtaining employment for certain types of positions.
Your credit report can influence your ability to find housing, employment and secure a loan. Knowing your score and understanding your report are the first steps towards your financial health. Our certified financial counselors will guide you through your credit report, answer questions, and give personalized guidance towards improving your score.
Learn about the process of getting a bank account with BankOn. Learn all there is to know about opening a bank account and the responsible usage of the bank account.
Speak with a Debt Coach to review all your options and discuss the best strategies for getting debt relief. We’ll point you in the right direction, whether that’s DIY debt relief or a debt program, like Debt Management Plans or Debt Settlement.
Debt is common and manageable. Our certified financial counselors are standing by ready to answer your questions, provide guidance, and help you reach your financial goals. Speaking to one of our certified debt counselors is completely free. Our counselors will be able to review all of your options for getting out of debt and guide you toward the best path forward.
A financial counselor will help you determine whether a Debt Management Plan is your best path toward effectively managing debt levels. Once you enroll in a plan, we become your personal advocates, working closely with you and your creditors to pay off debt in a timely fashion.
Debt settlement is a process that allows you to pay off debt by paying a single lump sum that is lower than the total amount you owe. Settlements are achieved through negotiation between lenders and consumers or a third-party debt settlement company. Our counselors will help you assess if debt settlement is the best debt relief option for you.
Credit.org is an Executive Office for United States Trustees ‘EOUST‘ approved agency. Our experienced financial counselors work with people in all stages of their financial life, including the challenging decision of bankruptcy. Our cousnelors can help you obtain the certificate you need to file for bankruptcy or discharge debts in bankruptcy.
Credit.org offers expert student loan counseling to help you manage your education debt. Our certified counselors guide you through loan repayment options, consolidation, and strategies to alleviate student loan stress. Get personalized assistance to navigate your student loan journey and find the best solutions for your financial goals.
Whether you are current on your mortgage payments, experiencing a financial hardship, or ready to begin your homeownership journey, take action and reach out to a HUD Certified Housing Counselor today!
Work with our HUD Certified Counselors who will assess your current mortgage needs and help guide you to the options that are best suited for your specific situation.
If you are 62 or older, have equity in your home, and are considering a Reverse Mortgage loan, it is important to speak with one of our HUD Certified Counselors to understand the benefits and risk of this product.
Our award-winning counselors are here to help prepare you to own a home. We provide education, resources, and guidance to make your home buying process efficient, stress-free, and rewarding.
Don’t start your home buying journey without getting the facts first! Whether you’re a first-time home buyer or someone looking to get back into home ownership, you will need a well laid plan. Our HUD-approved Home Buyer Classes will help you navigate the home buying process and equip you with useful tools & resources for purchasing a home.
If you are seeking guidance regarding renting, call us to speak with one of our financial counselors who will help you develop a budget, create a detailed action plan, and who can provide you with local, statewide, and national resources.
Community Affordable Loan Solution™ is designed to create homeownership access for clients who have never envisioned themselves as a homeowner. Credit.org has partnered with Bank of America to assist first-time homebuyers with pre-purchase counseling and homebuyer education.
Credit.org has partnered with Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta to provide your pre-purchase or owner-occupied credit counseling.
Helping San Diego County, Riverside County & San Bernardino County residents CLIMB to financial freedom!
Setting goals is a crucial part of obtaining financial freedom. We stress goal-setting with all of our clients, and here we offer 7 steps to ensure you will be successful in achieving your goals.
When we educate consumers about achieving financial freedom, goals come up early and often. Setting goals is an essential early step for anyone who wants to achieve success, whether that involves financial, personal, career, spiritual, or any other area of individual achievement.
Here are 7 ideas to consider that can help you make your goal-setting more successful:
Set a concrete goal. A goal isn’t the same as a wish. You may tell yourself you want to be out of debt or have more money in the bank, but making it a real goal means writing it down and having a specific end point. How much money do you want to have in the bank? By when? If paying off your debts is your goal, calculate an exact figure and prioritize your debts.
Break your goal down into steps. You can’t focus exclusively on the results of your goals; you need to determine what actions you’ll have to take along the way to get there. If your goal is to build up your savings, you need to determine how much money to add to your savings fund every month, every week, or even every day if necessary.
Figure out what you need to acquire to achieve your goal and get it. If you need to open a new savings account, do that before you start accumulating money. Have a place to put it before you set it aside and you’ll be less likely to spend it. If your goal is to further your career, figure out what skills you need to acquire and how you’ll get them: college, night classes, books, etc. If there’s something you lack that is keeping you from getting your goal, get it right away and remove that obstacle.
Tie it in with a whole list of other goals. You should have goals for multiple areas of your life. Your financial situation is only one part of the picture. What are your goals for your personal relationships? Your health? Your home? Keep all of your goals in mind and don’t leave out any essential part of your life while you’re focusing on your finances.
Don’t get dragged away from your goal. You must always know what direction you should be moving in, and stay on course. If your goal is to build savings, and you run up credit card debt, you’re not only failing to achieve your goal, you’re moving in the opposite direction.
Every day, ask yourself what you’ve done to move forward. Evaluate your progress at the end of each day. Did you make progress toward your goal? If you’re trying to build savings, know how much you've added to your savings account every day. If you didn’t set anything aside that day, you should be aware of it so you’ll do better the following day. If you’re working toward being debt-free, figure out how much progress you made toward paying down your debts that day. Ask yourself if you spent money on anything that you shouldn’t have. Confront each day as it ends and resolve to do better the next day.
Stay flexible and don’t get discouraged. Setbacks will happen. Sometimes your goals may need to be completely overhauled. This is normal and shouldn’t be a problem. If something more important comes along, you shouldn’t cling to a goal that’s a lower priority just because you thought of it first. Revise your goals as needed so you’re focusing on the most important things facing you today. If you evaluate your progress and find that your goals were too ambitious, revise them to something more attainable. Better to ratchet down your goals to something more realistic than to abandon them altogether.
If you need help with credit or debt, or want to learn more about budgeting or personal finance, get started with free, confidential counseling and education right here at Credit.org.
Article written by
Melinda Opperman
Melinda Opperman is an exceptional educator who lives and breathes the creation and implementation of innovative ways to motivate and educate community members and students about financial literacy. Melinda joined credit.org in 2003 and has over two decades of experience in the industry.