JOHANNESBURG - There are costs related to debt counselling, but the fee structure is carefully planned to be affordable for the client, says Benay Sager, the chief operating officer at DebtBusters, the debt counselling that helped Jeremy Michaels change his life.
“First, the debt counsellor will negotiate lower interest rates and fees with credit providers to ensure that the consumer can afford their monthly instalments and the credit providers still get paid back the money they lent to the consumer,” he says. “Consumers still end up saving a significant amount of money in the long run, even when the debt counsellor’s fees are taken into account.”
As well as communicating with creditors and organising a lower, consolidated repayment amount to be distributed to them each month, the debt counsellor provides legal protection for the consumer to ensure that creditors cannot take legal action against them.
If you are not sure whether your spending is putting you at risk of serious debt problems, you can take this test on DebtBusters’ useful website here.