Liz paid off a whopping $17,000 in credit card debt — thanks to the Consumer Credit Counseling Service. Could it help you?

Credit counseling organizations across the nation help people deal with creditors and pay off their debts.

The Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Maryland and Delaware, the service that Liz used, is one of 1,450 non-profit organizations that form the National Federation for Credit Counseling. These organizations are funded chiefly by creditors, such as banks and other lending institutions, to provide free services to help people repay their debts.

How do they help? Credit counseling services typically follow these steps:

Phone consultation.
You arrange to speak on the telephone with a counselor to discuss your financial situation. The counselor will help you to understand how your debt came about and how best to resolve it.

Debt management .
If your debts have piled up, you might need help managing them. Credit counseling services will take over your debts, renegotiating rates with your creditors, often getting considerably lower interest rates and removing late fees and other charges. You make one monthly payment to the credit counseling service, and they pay your creditors.

Credit counseling services are for people who want to pay off their debts. They are unlikely to recommend bankruptcy, partly because they are funded by creditors. If you think bankruptcy may be the right choice for you, you'll need to speak to a lawyer.

Want to know more about credit counseling services? Visit the website of the National Federation for Credit Counseling or the Credit Counseling Service of Maryland and Delaware.

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