credit counselling posts

Jerry Bailey, a minister in Jackson, Mich., says he feels as if he has been given back his life. It's a dramatic statement -- and the story behind these words is, indeed, pretty extraordinary.

But this isn't the kind of real-life tale screenwriters are scrambling to write. There's no prison time or debilitating medical conditions involved. In fact, Bailey's tale is, at its core, really quite commonplace.

Like countless Americans, Bailey and his wife Sue were in debt. A lot of debt.

Living in a House of Cards

It was 2005, and the couple had rung up approximately $92,000 in charges on their credit cards. At one point, they had 17 of them. (Story continues after slideshow)

SLIDESHOW: PAY OFF DEBT FASTER

Six Smart Ways to Pay Off Debt Faster

You might be surprised by this but people from virtually every walk of life have been known to get credit counseling help.

It seems everyone out there is working to rack their debt up to record levels lately. With that development, we're also starting to see a boom in the number of debt settlement companies hanging out a shingle in an effort to attract new customers.

Those working in credit counselor positions say their service is primarily about financial rehabilitation, not the quick fix being promoted by a lot of new debt settlement companies operating in Canada. In reality, the "solutions" promoted by debt settlement organizations, often require you to push your accounts into default before settling. The process isn't a quick one and, arguably, it isn't much of a fix either.

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