Credit Counselling Society
Providing Free Debt and Credit Help to Weyburn, Saskatchewan

Credit counselling can be highly successful when you choose the right kind of organization to help you. The ones with the best track records usually share these qualities:

• They’re members of Credit Counselling Canada, a national association for non-profit credit counselling agencies that follow strict standards for quality and transparency.
• They take time to fully understand your financial circumstances, create a workable budget with you, and review all your available options to deal with your debt and strengthen your financial stability.
• Their credit counsellors are not paid commission or incentives of any kind that are tied to the solutions they recommend to the people they help.
• Roughly 95% of people who contact these organizations receive help at no cost, and only about 20% end up enrolling in their repayment plan. The rest either get practical guidance they can implement themselves or are referred to another professional for very specific assistance.
• If you enroll in their repayment program (called a Debt Management Program), you’re likely to succeed. People who complete it often gain valuable financial skills that last a lifetime. These programs have a relapse rate of less than 1%, compared to 20% for bankruptcy or consumer proposals.

On the other hand, organizations with lower success rates often operate very differently. Here’s how things tend to look there:

• You may feel more like you’re speaking with a salesperson rather than someone who is there to fully and truly help you.
• Their “credit counsellors” providing advice may lack professional accreditation, have no oversight from a regulatory body, and may not be bound by a strict ethical code. Credit Counselling Canada is the only national credit counselling association in Canada that does not allow it’s members to take advantage of trusting consumers by double charging them for consumer proposals (only a Licensed Insolvency Trustee should charge you money for a consumer proposal).
• They tend to refer most of their clients to a Licensed Insolvency Trustee (a bankruptcy trustee) because that pays them the most. Unfortunately, many will effectively double charge their clients in doing this by charging them thousands for a consumer proposal before referring them to a bankruptcy trustee who is legally the only one allowed to charge for this.
• These “credit counsellors” tend to earn commissions on specific “solutions” they sell. This naturally influences their recommendations and may result in certain viable options never being mentioned. Some of these salespeople also call themselves “debt consultants” and will charge hefty upfront fees before passing you on to a less than reputable bankruptcy trustee. Reputable non-profits never do this. If it looks like either a consumer proposal or bankruptcy are your best option, they’ll simply offer you a list of trustworthy trustees for free.
• Their “solution” to your financial problems will probably be a consumer proposal, which sounds more appealing than bankruptcy but pays them more (both are legal options governed by the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act). If they’re not members of Credit Counselling Canada, there’s probably around an 80% chance that you won’t leave their office without being convinced to sign up for a “solution” that earns them money.
• The recidivism rate (repeat rate) for all insolvency options (consumer proposals and bankruptcy) is around 20%. This means that 20% of people who complete these programs will repeat them again in the future. There are many reasons for this but one is that many times no one takes the time to help these people figure out what caused their financial problems in the first place and what proactive steps they can take to avoid similar financial problems in the future. Quality non-profit credit counsellors do this, and it’s one of many reasons why their success rate is very high.

To wrap up this up, not all credit counselling is the same. Some providers focus more on generating revenue than helping people, while reputable non-profits—often members of Credit Counselling Canada—put individuals first, even if that means they don’t earn anything. In fact, about 95% of people who call us for help of some kind end up receiving it completely free without ever paying a thing. It’s easy to see why profit-driven counsellors wouldn’t be interested in offering this kind of support – it doesn’t generate the profits they’re looking for.

Working with a credit counsellor does not affect your credit score in any way. It’s a private, confidential conversation and is never reported anywhere. No one will ever know unless you tell them. However, if you decide to begin a Debt Management Program that is offered by the credit counselling agency, then this may impact your credit score. The odd thing is that sometimes this program affects your credit score while sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s best to assume that it will. Fortunately, the longest the negative effect will last is until 2 years after you finished repaying your program. At this time the credit counselling organization will instruct the credit reporting agencies to remove all records of your Debt Management Program from your credit report. Your credit score can then rebound quickly if you re-establish a form of credit that reports on your credit reports. Your credit counsellor can help coach you through this.

Your experience will depend on whether you choose a for-profit or a non-profit organization. For-profits are typically focused on signing you up for a program that benefits them financially.

Non-profits accredited by Credit Counselling Canada will typically spend about an hour with you, listening to your concerns, learning about your financial situation and goals, and helping you develop a workable budget. From there, they’ll go over potential solutions, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each, to find the best path forward.

Quality credit counsellors are budgeting experts. As part of the process, they will likely help you find ways to optimize your budget and get the most out of it.

By the end of the session, you’ll probably have a plan of action and a clear sense of your next steps. If you need more help later, a follow-up session can be scheduled—also free of charge.

If you decide that a Debt Management Program offered by the credit counselling organization is your best solution, a quality non-profit will never allow you to sign-up that day. They will always insist that you go home, sleep on it, and discuss it with anyone whose advice you value. A quality decision should not be made on the spot and should always be carefully considered.

If you end up deciding that a consumer proposal or bankruptcy is your best option, then the credit counsellor will refer you to a Licensed Insolvency Trustee that they trust. They may even provide you with a number of names for you to choose from.

Whether you simply came here looking for credit counselling near me or want more structured financial guidance, these sessions are designed to give you a clear picture of your situation and a path forward.

Yes, credit counselling services are available across Saskatchewan. Before the pandemic we served Saskatchewan from our offices in Regina and Saskatoon, but with so many people preferring to meet over the phone or virtually, we now serve all of Saskatchewan by phone and online.

Often, yes. Many people use a Debt Management Program from a non-profit as an alternative to bankruptcy or a consumer proposal. A credit counsellor can review your finances in detail and help you determine if this is a realistic solution for you.

Yes, a whole lot is available for free. Our non-profit offers free credit counselling, free financial education, and free educational resources. After meeting with one of our credit counsellors (either over the phone or in person), over 50% of the people we help end up pursuing a free option. In these cases, both the credit counsellor and the individual agreed that their best first choice was to address their situation on their own. In each of these cases, the credit counsellor would provide the individual with a realistic action plan. Then as the someone is implementing their plan, they can check in with their credit counsellor at any time (for free) to review their progress, bounce ideas off them, or get advice on how to tackle a particular challenge. If our Debt Management Program looks like an ideal option for someone, but we can see that they can’t afford to pay our small fee, then we’ll waive it. We’re here to find solutions that actually work, and we go to great lengths to help people find the right solution that will fit their financial situation.

Yes. The Canadian Credit Counselling Society provides free counselling appointments with certified professionals, complimentary financial education webinars, and a wide range of online tools and resources at no cost. A fee only applies if you decide to participate in one of their debt repayment programs. Even then, the costs are minimal, and in some cases, fees can be waived if someone is unable to pay.

The Credit Counselling Society is well known for the top quality, free help it provides. In fact, it’s been providing free help ever since starting out as the Credit Counselling Society of BC in 1996. Now we provide services across the country from BC to Quebec, which is why we are sometimes called the Credit Counselling Society of Canada.

We provide professional, non-profit support to individuals across the province and throughout Canada. For those seeking the best credit counselling Weyburn can provide, our team is recognized for being dependable, accredited, and highly recommended.

Not anymore. The Saskatchewan government once offered credit counselling and a program called Orderly Payment of Debts. But in 2012, after seeing the results delivered by the Credit Counselling Society (CCS), the government closed its own program and began referring people to CCS instead. So while government credit counselling Weyburn doesn’t exist anymore, CCS is the recommended provider.

That would be a strong yes. The Credit Counselling Society (CCS) is a very legitimate and highly respected non-profit organization that’s been assisting Canadians for close to 30 years.

At one time, many provincial governments offered their own credit counselling services. But over time, they found that non-profit organizations like ours were able to provide better service at a lower cost—without relying on government funding. As a result, most provinces now refer people to trusted non-profits like us instead.

It just so happens now that a lot of the people we help are referred to us by various government bodies from across the country. Some government departments and agencies are even regular users our educational resources and often invite us to provide financial literacy training for their employees.

Since we first opened our doors, we have helped more than a million Canadians over the phone or in person and have helped millions more online. We operate more offices than any other non-profit credit counselling agency in the country, and our staff members are frequently featured in the media offering financial tips, insight, and advice.

A couple of our staff members also write weekly and bi-weekly columns for two major publications, the Financial Post and The Province. The articles are often re-published by media outlets in cities across Canada.

Our work has earned us more than 80 awards at the regional, national, and international levels. We’ve also received over 1,500 online reviews on Google, Yelp, and Facebook—with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars. Every year, we survey more than 10,000 of our clients, and for many years, over 98% have said they would recommend our service to others.

Education is central to our mission, with a team of full-time educators on staff, multiple awards for excellence in financial literacy, and a self-help educational website that has helped millions.

We’re also recognized as an exceptional workplace, earning multiple Great Place to Work Canada® honours for fairness, giving back, including others, employee satisfaction, and support for women and younger professionals.

When it comes to transparency, trust, and accountability, we strive to go the extra mile:

• We’re overseen by a volunteer board of directors made up of financial and professional experts from across Canada.
• An external, independent accounting firm audits our finances each and every year. This is a level of transparency and accountability that no other service provider in our industry adheres to.
• We’re accredited by Credit Counselling Canada (CCC), our industry’s national association with the highest standards of transparency and accountability, and the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
• We maintain our registered non-profit status with the Government of Canada.
• We were the first Canadian credit counselling agency to become an international affiliate of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC)—the largest and most trusted non-profit credit counselling association in North America.

Finally, our staff do not work on commission, ensuring that all advice and guidance provided is impartial and focused solely on what’s best for clients. Because our staff do not receive a financial incentive to promote any particular “solution,” you’ll notice a big difference in the assistance our staff provides compared to many other agencies out there.