Credit Counselor Advise and educate individuals or organizations on acquiring and managing debt. May provide guidance in determining the best type of loan and explain loan requirements or restrictions. May help develop debt management plans or student financial aid packages. May advise on credit issues, or provide budget, mortgage, bankruptcy, or student financial aid counseling.
Credit Counselor is Also Know as
In different settings, Credit Counselor is titled as
- Accredited Financial Counselor
- Certified Consumer Credit and Housing Counselor
- Certified Credit and Housing Counselor
- Certified Credit Consultant
- Certified Credit Counselor
- Credit Counselor
- Financial Health Counselor
- Housing Counselor
- Personal Finance Counselor
Education and Training of Credit Counselor
Credit Counselor is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Credit Counselor
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Education Required for Credit Counselor
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Degrees Related to Credit Counselor
- Bachelor in Banking and Financial Support Services
- Associate Degree Courses in Banking and Financial Support Services
- Masters Degree Courses in Banking and Financial Support Services
- Bachelor in Financial Planning and Services
- Associate Degree Courses in Financial Planning and Services
- Masters Degree Courses in Financial Planning and Services
- Bachelor in Credit Management
- Associate Degree Courses in Credit Management
- Masters Degree Courses in Credit Management
Training Required for Credit Counselor
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Credit Counselor in different industries are
- Personal Financial Advisors
- Loan Officers
- Credit Analysts
- Credit Authorizers, Checkers, and Clerks
- Loan Interviewers and Clerks
- Financial and Investment Analysts
- Financial Managers
- Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs
- Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents
- Bill and Account Collectors
- Rehabilitation Counselors
- Insurance Sales Agents
- New Accounts Clerks
- Tax Preparers
- Customer Service Representatives
- Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks
- Child, Family, and School Social Workers
- Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents
- Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks
- Accountants and Auditors
What Do Credit Counselor do?
- Advise clients or respond to inquiries about financial matters in person or via phone, email, Web site, or Internet chat.
- Assess clients' overall financial situations by reviewing income, assets, debts, expenses, credit reports, or other financial information.
- Calculate clients' available monthly income to meet debt obligations.
- Create debt management plans, spending plans, or budgets to assist clients to meet financial goals.
- Estimate time for debt repayment, given amount of debt, interest rates, and available funds.
- Explain services or policies to clients, such as debt management program rules, advantages and disadvantages of using services, or creditor concession policies.
- Interview clients by telephone or in person to gather financial information.
- Maintain or update records of client account activity, including financial transactions, counseling session notes, correspondence, document images, or client inquiries.
- Negotiate with creditors on behalf of clients to arrange for payment adjustments, interest rate reductions, time extensions, or payment plans.
- Prepare written documents to establish contracts with or communicate financial recommendations to clients.
- Prioritize client debt repayment to avoid dire consequences, such as bankruptcy or foreclosure or to reduce overall costs, such as by paying high-interest or short-term loans first.
- Recommend educational materials or resources to clients on matters, such as financial planning, budgeting, or credit.
- Recommend strategies for clients to meet their financial goals, such as borrowing money through loans or loan programs, declaring bankruptcy, making budget adjustments, or enrolling in debt management plans.
- Refer clients to social service or community resources for needs beyond those of credit or debt counseling.
- Review changes to financial, family, or employment situations to determine whether changes to existing debt management plans, spending plans, or budgets are needed.
- Advise clients on housing matters, such as housing rental, homeownership, mortgage delinquency, or foreclosure prevention.
- Conduct research to help clients avoid repossessions or foreclosures or remove levies or wage garnishments.
- Create action plans to assist clients in obtaining permanent housing via rent or mortgage programs.
- Disburse funds from client accounts to creditors.
- Explain general financial topics to clients, such as credit report ratings, bankruptcy laws, consumer protection laws, wage attachments, or collection actions.
- Explain loan information to clients, such as available loan types, eligibility requirements, or loan restrictions.
- Investigate missing checks, payment histories, held funds, returned checks, or other related issues to resolve client or creditor problems.
- Teach courses or seminars on topics, such as budgeting, management of personal finances, or financial literacy.
Qualities of Good Credit Counselor
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Tools Used by Credit Counselor
- Financial calculators
- Inkjet printers
- Laptop computers
- Laser facsimile machines
- Laser printers
- Multi-line telephone systems
- Personal computers
Technology Skills required for Credit Counselor
- Chat software
- Cooperative Processing Resources DMS Professional Suite
- CoreLogic DebtorTrace
- Email software
- Freddie Mac Loan Prospector
- ICCO CreditSoft
- Integrant DebtLogic
- LexisNexis
- LexisNexis Accurint
- Merlin Information Services databases
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Dynamics
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Word
- Oracle PeopleSoft
- Paragon Financial Services Paragon Financial System
- Prime Debt Soft Debt Settlement
- Prime Debt Software Credit Repair
- SAP software
- Web browser software