There are hundreds of loan companies that claim to be non-profit and will help you manage your debt either through debt reduction, consolidation, negotiation, settlement, bankruptcy, credit repair, clinics and help you read your credit report. The truth is many of these companies who claim to be non-profit, are not. All non-profit must have a Federal 501-C3 non-profit status form on file. However, dont be misled by the 01-C3 status either, many claim that they can help you manage your credit and will charge you hundreds to thousands of dollars to do absolutely nothing to help you get out of debt. So what makes a non-profit legitimate as a consolidated loan company? Any ethical non-profit is paid a ""fair share distribution"" by the creditors and about $5 - $20 per debt monthly from the client. This rate is negotiable.

There are many things you can do on your own to recover form debt abuse. The first is to get an updated copy of your credit report and review it for problems. Many times there are errors on credit reports that can lower your rating if not caught. Say your credit is not so could, and you do need the services of a debt company. What do you need to know?

The first things is if you do use a debt counseling service it will not affect your credit unless a creditor reports that you are using a service then your credit might be affected. At any rate, if youre over your head in debt, it is far better to use a consolidated loan service rather than make continuous late payments or have to file for bankruptcy.