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Household Credit Usage pp 37–54Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Whither Consumer Credit Counseling

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Abstract

The availability and use of consumer credit in the United States has grown dramatically over the last 50 years. While this is undoubtedly beneficial, one consequence is that, at any time, there are a million or more consumers having difficulties in managing their unsecured debts. For a half century, nonprofit credit counseling organizations have offered financial education and budget counseling sessions for free or at nominal cost to borrowers. They also negotiate comprehensive repayment plans (debt management plans) with a borrower’s unsecured creditors. These repayment plans provide an alternative to bankruptcy that is valuable to many consumers.

Keywords

  • Federal Trade Commission
  • Financial Education
  • Credit Score
  • Consumer Credit
  • Personal Bankruptcy

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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Authors
  1. Robert M. Hunt
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, USA

    Sumit Agarwal (financial economist) (financial economist)

  2. Pennsylvania State University, USA

    Brent W. Ambrose (Jeffery L. and Cindy M. King Faculty Fellow in Business and Professor of Real Estate ) (Jeffery L. and Cindy M. King Faculty Fellow in Business and Professor of Real Estate )

Copyright information

© 2007 Sumit Agarwal and Brent W. Ambrose

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Hunt, R.M. (2007). Whither Consumer Credit Counseling. In: Agarwal, S., Ambrose, B.W. (eds) Household Credit Usage. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230608917_3

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