Earlier this week Howard Hayes and I had lunch with Michelle, Sue, Nina and Terri from the Family Counselling Centre of Brant.
(Totally off topic, we had lunch at Cafe Andreou on West Street; I had never eaten there before and we wanted to try it. I was told the food was great but the owner is a bit unusual. Sure enough, the food was great, but when the waiter made a small mistake on Terri’s order, the owner, rather than apologizing, came out an basically said “you have no choice but to sit and wait until we fix it.” Maybe it’s just me, but perhaps an apology and a free appetizer might have been a better approach).
The Family Counselling Centre of Brant is the only not-for-profit credit counselling agency that personally meets with clients in Brantford. I have worked with their team for many years, and highly recommend their services.
They work with many other agencies in Brantford, as well as with employers and schools. Their main focus is on prevention.
I think their focus on preventing financial problems is great, because no one else is doing it. (The credit card companies want you to borrow more, not less).
Their Brantford credit counsellors are experts in helping you create a budget. Creating a proper household budget is the first step in assessing and preventing financial problems.
In addition to giving advice, the credit counsellors at Brant Family Counselling can also negotiate payment arrangements with your creditors through a debt management plan. For example, if you owe $20,000 on four different credit cards they can probably negotiate a plan where you pay $400 per month for 50 months to pay off your debts in full, and the credit card companies in most cases will waive all future interest, so you can get out of debt faster.
If you think a debt management plan may be the correct solution for you, call Brant Family Counselling in Brantford at 519-753-4173, or call my office in Brantford at 519-770-4440, or e-mail me and I can explain credit counselling and your other options for dealing with your debts.
