How Do I Train to Become a Credit Counselor?

What Credit Counselors Need to Know

Credit counselors have to deal with financially stressed people on a daily basis. Some of the clients who come to credit counseling are on the brink of bankruptcy or losing their homes. Some may have already lost everything and don't know how to get back on track. Credit counselors need to understand the psychology of what these people are going through. They also need to learn about the psychology of money. Then they can start working on the numbers. A credit counselor needs to know how to read a credit report, how to write a budget and how to work with credit card companies. They need to know how to troubleshoot a problem, how to teach and how to deal with different personality types.

What Credit Counselors Do

When someone comes to a credit counselor, he is in a financial bind. A credit counselor's job is to lesson the problem by teaching the person how to handle money and help the client find his way out of the debt that he is in.

A credit counselor sees as many different financial scenarios as clients. Each one will possess its own special challenge. It could be as simple as pulling a credit report on the client and showing him how to use his present income to pay his debt down. But it can also be as complicated as helping a client find a way to keep his home while dealing with many other financial issues. Whatever the case, this means speaking to clients on the phone, meeting with them in the office and dealing with them when they don't want to deal with their problems anymore. Being a credit counselor is a stressful yet very rewarding job when everything goes well and a client gets back on track financially. But the job takes education, patience and a desire to help others.

Training for Credit Counseling

There is no training required to be called a credit counselor. However, many agencies require certain certifications. There are organizations that educate and certify credit counselors. You must pass the course tests and have enough credits to gain your certification. The Center for Financial Certification offers two certification programs: Certified Personal Finance Counselor and Certified Educator in Personal Finance. The first program is for counselors who work in a one-on-one situation with a client and the second is teaching basic financial education to children and adults in a group or community situation. The Institute for Financial Counseling offers many individual courses on everything from the psychology of money to bankruptcy training. They also offer a full curriculum to earn a Certified Financial Health Counselor designation. Some of these courses are available as seminars and correspondence courses. The National Association of Certified Credit Counselors offers continuing education courses and recognizes the agencies that hire certified credit counselors. They stress the importance of education in the field of credit counseling and work to make it a very professional occupation.