Financial Counselling in Canada

Posted on by Forest in Debt, Saving Money & Finances

Financial Counselling in Canada – The world of financial counselling can be a hard one to navigate. Already in a stressed state by the fact that you are facing such hard times makes it difficult to trust anyone or know where to turn. Luckily in Canada there are a lot of very good resources and fairly good regulated agencies in place to help you out.

Financial Counselling in Canada

Financial counselling in Canada

Although there is a large enough for-profit sector in Canada’s financial counselling business the not-for-profit sector is still overwhelming larger and more regulated. In Canada you need to be a member of certain organisations and hold charitable status to provide accredited not-for-profit services. This effectively means you can get financial help and counselling for free and the agencies are funded from charitable donations, mostly from the banking industry.

In most cases, except in Quebec, not for profit companies can take you on and help you organise your own credit management, act on your behalf and set up various plans and even help you with the steps towards bankruptcy.

I just have to disclaim, I am not a financial professional and the advice in this post is as far as I know correct but I can’t be held responsible if it is not. Use common sense and only deal with accredited companies.

OACCS and CACCS 

The Ontario Association of Credit Counselling Services and the Canadian Association of Credit Counselling Services are the organisations that provide the foundations and criteria for registered companies to adhere to. Their websites give you access to registered companies, offer trusted information and transparently tell you what to do and where to turn. On the flip side if you want to become registered with them the information is there. Check out oaccs.com and caccs.com for more information.

Credit Counselling Canada

CCC is the Canadian not-for-profit association. They have member companies shared with oaccs and caccs and offer great services on their site creditcounsellingcanada.ca. Here is the text from their about page:

Credit Counselling Canada (CCC) is the national association of not-for-profit credit counselling and government agencies that work provincially, regionally and locally throughout Canada. Only not-for-profit registered charitable organizations are accepted as association members by our Board of Directors.

This common bond of charitable, not-for-profit status ensures that all member activities remain focused on assisting those in need by providing timely and useful help. This commitment is also reflected in our independent accreditation process which requires adherence to the highest standard of service.

While CCC members work at the community level to provide consumers service choices that include face-to-face, telephone, and internet-enabled information – our association’s national policies deal with matters of client service, our leadership team executive engages in continuous lobbying on consumer legislation and regulation.

The defining quality of credit counselling as practiced by our members is the sensitivity shown by counsellors as they strive to resolve your difficulties using unique solutions designed to fit your individual needs. Since we first began, hundreds of thousands of Canadians have benefited and you can too!

Quebec

Quebec agencies work a bit differently and they tend to provide similar education but when in contact with creditors will not represent for you. Inside they will negotiate with the creditors on your behalf and help them go softer on you. These groups are known as ACEFs which stands for ‘Association coopérative d’économie familiale’. 10 of these agencies are represented by the Union des consommateurs. The Coalition of Consumer Groups represents 21 agencies.

Further reading – If you want to learn more about financial counselling in Canada including it’s history, more details on each association and agency and further recommendations then check out this research paper titled “Financial Literacy and the Canadian Credit Counselling Services Industry” by Adriana E. Molina.

Related: Why bother to budget?

 If you have any experience or information to add to this post then I would love to hear from you. Thanks for reading. - Financial Counselling in Canada

Tags: caccs, credit canada, credit counselling, oaccs