Credit Counselling Society Serving La Ronge, Saskatchewan
Free Debt & Credit Help

The effectiveness of credit counselling can be very strong—provided you work with the right kind of organization. Those with the highest success rates tend to share the following traits:

• Typically a member of Credit Counselling Canada, an association of non-profit credit counselling organizations with the highest standards of quality and transparency in the industry.
• They’ll work with you to understand your entire financial picture, build a practical budget, and help you explore all your options to resolve your debt and improve your financial well-being.
• 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.
• Around 95% of the people who reach out to these organizations are helped for free and only around 20% of the people who sit down with one of their credit counsellors end up going on the organization’s debt repayment program. Everyone else is either provided with a solution they can implement themselves or is referred to another professional for more specific help.
• If you choose to enroll in their repayment plan—known as a Debt Management Program—you learn practical money management skills that last a lifetime. Consequently, the relapse rate is under 1%. This compares to roughly 20% of people who file for bankruptcy or a consumer proposal needing to redo the process again at some point in the future.

Here is what credit counselling organizations often look like that have lower success rates:

• You may feel more like you’re speaking with a salesperson rather than someone who is there to fully and truly help you.
• These “credit counsellors” often lack professional certification, aren’t accountable to an oversight body, and may not follow a strict code of ethics. 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 go-to “solution” is frequently a consumer proposal. While this can sound better than bankruptcy, it’s still insolvency and falls under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. If the credit counsellors or debt consultants helping you aren’t members of Credit Counselling Canada, there’s a strong chance—possibly as high as 80%—that you won’t leave their office with being convinced to sign up for a program that benefits them financially.
• With consumer proposals and bankruptcies, about 20% of people end up having to file for one of these again in the future. One of the reasons why this can happen is because the underlying causes of financial trouble are never addressed. Quality credit counselling organizations tackle these root issues, which is a big part of why they see better long-term outcomes.

In short, credit counselling isn’t all the same. Some providers prioritize revenue over real help, while long-term results orientated non-profits—often members of Credit Counselling Canada—put people’s needs first, even if it means earning nothing from the interaction. In fact, about 95% of those who contact us receive support completely free of charge, which is something profit-driven agencies simply can’t match.

You can meet with a credit counsellor as many times as you like without it ever showing up on your credit report. However, if you choose to join a Debt Management Program through a reputable non-profit like the Credit Counselling Society, this will appear on your report but will be removed two years after your last payment. This is a much shorter period than the six years a bankruptcy remains on your credit report and about a year less than a consumer proposal. But unlike a proposal, it also leaves no trace in public court records – because it’s completely private.

Speaking with a credit counsellor is entirely private and doesn’t influence your credit score because it is not reported to them. However, enrolling in a Debt Management Program might affect your score—sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s best to plan for some impact. The good news is that the notation is removed from your report two years after completing the program. With the right steps, you can rebuild your credit quickly, and as part of our Debt Management Program, we provide guidance to help you do just that.

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.

Good counsellors are experts at budgeting and as part of their process will help you make the most of what you have.

By the end of the first session, most people will have a good idea of what their next steps are. They will essentially leave the appointment with an action plan of how to begin resolving their situation. If a second session is needed, this can be scheduled as well (and is also free of charge). The counsellor can then resume your previous conversation and hear how you’ve progressed with your first steps.

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 it turns out that a consumer proposal or bankruptcy makes the most sense, they’ll refer you to a trusted Licensed Insolvency Trustee they trust—often providing a list so you can choose.

Whether you’re simply looking for credit counselling near me or need more structured guidance, the goal of the session is to give you clarity and a way 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 La Ronge can provide, our team is recognized for being dependable, accredited, and highly recommended.

Many years ago, the Government of Saskatchewan provided credit counselling services. However, in 2012 after observing the work of the Credit Counselling Society in Saskatchewan, the government decided to close their credit counselling office and Orderly Payment of Debts program and refer residents of La Ronge and the rest of the province to the Credit Counselling Society instead. So while government credit counselling La Ronge no longer exists, their chosen replacement, the Credit Counselling Society does and is here to provide free credit counselling advice and guidance.

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.

As it turns out, many of the people we help are now referred to us by government agencies and departments across the country. Some government entities even make use of our educational resources and invite our staff to provide financial literacy training to their staff.

Over the years, we’ve helped over a million Canadians one-on-one—and have reached millions more through our websites. We have more offices than any other non-profit credit counselling organization in Canada, and our team is frequently featured in the news offering expert advice and insights on financial issues that impact Canadians.

We also contribute weekly and bi-weekly articles to two major Canadian publications, The Province and the Financial Post, which are often re-published by media outlets nationwide.

The organization is also known as a great place to work, with multiple recognitions from Great Place to Work Canada® for supporting young professionals and women, giving back, fairness, including others, and overall employee satisfaction.

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.

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.

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

• Our organization is governed by a diverse board of directors who serve as volunteers and come from many different financial and professional backgrounds across Canada.
• Our finances are independently audited every year by an external accounting firm—something no other credit counselling organization in Canada does.
• 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, we don’t believe commission based compensation is the best way to serve those who look to us for help. Unlike many organizations out there, our staff are never paid commission of any kind. This ensures that every client receives unbiased, objective advice that’s truly in their best interest.