Frequently Asked Questions

Credit repair companies, are typically for-profit businesses and charge very expensive fees to do for you what you can basically do yourself, for free. CCOA is non-profit organization and not a credit repair company.

You can get a free credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com.

The big three nationwide credit reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — can provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, at www.annualcreditreport.com. Currently, they are providing the opportunity to get your credit report weekly, instead of annually. Your credit report is free, but your credit score will have a small fee if you desire that as well, as federal law did not mandate that your score also be provided to you for free.

Repaying consumer debt like medical and credit cards can typically be done more conveniently and cheaply through a debt management program.

A Debt Management Plan (DMP) consolidates your unsecured debt (such as credit cards and medical bills) into one monthly payment, can stop late fees and over-the-limit fees, as well as lower your monthly payments and interest rates. It can repay your debt -- in full -- within 3 to 5 years.

Target your credit card with the highest interest rate with any extra money you can pay to knock it down. Cut up, or put up, any credit cards, so you are not adding more debt while at the same time trying to pay off credit card debt. CCOA helps people become debt free with the Debt Management Program (DMP). There is no super-fast way of paying off debt -- just like it takes some time to lose weight that was gained, it can take a little time to pay off debt and become debt free. CCOA's DMP, however, is a 3 to 5 year program to become debt free.

Debtors can try to get a debt consolidation loan, where their various debt is consolidated into one loan that they make a monthly payment on. Typically the last thing anybody who is struggling with debt needs is more debt, and that includes a debt consolidation loan. There's a saying, "You can't borrow your way out of debt." The statistics have proven that that majority of people who attempt to borrow their way out of debt not only fail, but end up with even more debt.

Yes, in most cases. Sometimes, the original creditor will pull the account back from collections, so that we'll be working again with the original creditor. At other times, we have to work with the collection agency. Collection agencies like to get money. We try to show them that they will get a steady stream of payments if they accept a DMP proposal

No, you do not. However, this may be an issue worth discussing with a counselor. Several creditors now look for indications that you are facing financial stress before accepting a proposal. Such indicators could include making late payments, or being close to or over limit on your account. The vast majority of creditors do not have these requirements. Still, a DMP is serious "medicine" and should only be used after thoughtfully weighing all available alternatives.

Pre-purchase counseling offers a free one-on-one assessment with a housing counselor to help you learn about the home buying process, the requirements, and to understand the financial commitment of buying and maintaining a home.

How much does it cost for a credit counseling appointment?

CCOA offers a wide variety of financial education classes covering topics such as: budgeting, money management, credit, credit scoring, debt, and holiday spending. Our most popular classes are: "Master Your Money," "3 Steps to Budgeting," "A Brighter Financial Future," "Master Your Credit," “Holiday Spending: Money & Stress Tips,” and "Financial Freedom."

All of CCOA's seminars are free, with the exception of the 2-hour bankruptcy education seminar. However, a fee is charged for education at for-profit businesses (unless it is an employee run lunch & learn, for example, and not an official company sponsored function).

Send us a message, or call (479) 521-8877 or 800-889-4916 to schedule a financial class. Classes are presented in the Northwest Arkansas and River Valley areas based on educator availability.

Yes, we offer home-buyer education as an online course. CCOA provides an online home-buyer education course which is a broad overview of the home buying process. To learn more, go to ehomeamerica.org/ccoacares

Income guidelines will vary depending upon what type of assistance an applicant will qualify, size of family and the county in which you live. The income guidelines are set by the Arkansas Development Finance Authority (ADFA) and are subject to change. For the most current listing of the income guidelines as well as program descriptions, go to homeloans.arkansas.gov.

During the session, a trained, professional credit counselor will help you clarify your financial goals, analyze your income, expenses and overall financial situation, discuss possible solutions, and make recommendations for you to consider. The counselor will not tell you what to do. S/he will offer recommendations and help you explore options. Ultimately, you will have to decide on the course of action you wish to take.

Continue paying your priorities: rent or mortgage, utilities, car note, insurance, taxes, student loans, secured debt and other bills as best you can. Communicate with your creditors and let them know you have an appointment with CCOA. Do not refuse to talk to them and do not make any promises you can't keep.

Your credit report is a good source for information about creditors you owe money to. It is not necessary for you to have a credit report unless you don't know your creditors. While the credit report is useful, it is not an adequate substitute for creditor statements. Credit reports seldom have full account numbers and payment mailing addresses for your creditors. This sort of information is vital to get started on the program.

CCOA offers credit counseling appointments in both English and Spanish.

In the majority of cases, CCOA is able to work with creditors toward a positive solution that will satisfy everyone and hopefully stop any legal action. Most creditors prefer money to legal action, provided that regular payments are being made on the account. However, utilizing CCOA's services does not interfere with the terms of the contract you signed when credit was extended and creditors may choose to enforce the terms of the contract to protect their interests. Furthermore, CCOA cannot stop court fines or tax garnishments

A request for personal and account information is sent to you so you will be prepared for the counseling session. You will need to provide this information in the session, so completing the form will assist in this effort. Our ability to help you and provide useful advice is greatly enhanced if you complete the datasheet before your session. We ask that all clients read and sign the back two pages before coming to the counseling session.

We recommend that you put all of your creditors on the DMP. This will assist in your effort to become debt free at the earliest possible time. However, an exception to keep one credit card off the program for business/emergency purposes can be considered. If a card is kept off the program, we strongly urge you to pay off the outstanding balance monthly. Since creditors frequently monitor open or added accounts and upon finding such accounts may discontinue concessions, we suggest you discuss this exception with your counselor during the initial counseling session.

Yes, in most cases. Sometimes, the original creditor will pull the account back from collections, so that we'll be working again with the original creditor. At other times, we have to work with the collection agency. Furthermore, your counselor can also inform you of your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which governs the activities of collection agencies. Once they know you are aware of your legal rights, collection agencies are less likely to use their most heavy-handed tactics.

Counselors are booked with appointments throughout the day. You can call to schedule an appointment with your counselor, or leave a message for them. Usually our Client Support Representatives (CSR) can help you more quickly. If the CSR is not able to answer your question, they will try to have your counselor call you back as soon as possible.

No one will know you have an appointment unless you tell him or her. If a creditor calls, we will assume it is because the creditor referred you to us. We will only verify the appointment you made with us.

Yes, that is possible. Furthermore, entering into a shared DMP does not create a legal obligation for the other person's debt, if the accounts were not shared (joint) prior to the DMP start. Though we can create such a combined DMP, keep in mind that splitting a DMP can get sticky. So you don't want to enter into a shared DMP on a whim.

Non-profit CCOA has been helping people since 1995 and has an A+ rating (the highest) with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). There are many different counseling agencies offering their services, and it can be difficult to determine which one to choose. However, government agencies and third-parties, such as the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, the Federal Trade Commission, and the National Consumer Law Center have online tips and brochures that tell you what to look for when selecting a credit counseling service.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offers a very useful, independent comparison of the two service types. Go to their website at consumerfinance.gov and enter "credit counselor versus debt settlement" in their search field to get some insightful links. Briefly, however, know that debt settlement (which is settling a debt for less than what is owed) can greatly hurt your credit, and the IRS typically will tax forgiven debt of $600 or more, treating it as earned income.

Simply talking to one of our counselors will not impact your credit. We start with a budgeting session. More than two-thirds of the clients who talk to our counselors do not use a Debt Management Program (DMP) to make ongoing payments to their creditors. We help them explore a variety of options, and for most clients, the DMP is not the best tool to address their concerns. Note that the use of a DMP will not, by itself, impact your credit score. Also, as you pay your debt down on the DMP, you will find that your credit score will go up!

No. CCOA does not report to the credit reporting agencies. However, your creditors may continue to report late payments and past due amounts to the bureaus on their individual accounts. Furthermore, some creditors may notate that you are paying through a counseling service.

The two most important tips are 1) Pay your debts on time, and 2) The less debt you owe, the higher your score. These two factors make up 65% of your credit score. Late payments can have a severe negative impact on your score. Once you've missed payments, all you can do is make future payments on time, and wait until the late-payment blemish lessens over time. CCOA offers a credit report review service. A counselor will sit down with you, pull a copy of your Experian credit report (with credit score), and review with you the strengths and the areas to improve. The counselor will also give you personalized advice on how to take steps to improve your score. You can also get a free copy of your credit reports from each of the three major credit reporting agencies at annualcreditreport.com.

Credit Counseling of Arkansas provides financial counseling to 17 other states besides Arkansas, and also to the District of Columbia (D.C.). Those states are: Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Usually we can get you an appointment for the same week that you called.

Depending on when you would like to begin the DMP, we usually can get a client all set up the following week.