Free Credit & Debt Counselling Services in Saskatoon

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.

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.

You can speak with a credit counsellor as many times as you like, and it will never show up on your credit report. However, if you choose to work with your credit counsellor to enter into a Debt Management Program through a non-profit such as the Credit Counselling Society, then this will show up on your credit report. A Debt Management Program typically stays on your credit report for two years after the program is completed. This is much shorter than the six year record left by a bankruptcy, making it a less damaging alternative for many individuals. It also comes off your credit report about a year sooner than a consumer proposal, but leaves no permanent record with the courts like a consumer proposal does.

The success rate of credit counselling is very high if you get help from the right credit counselling organization. Here is what credit counselling organizations with high success rates look like:

• 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 will take the time to go over your complete financial situation, help you create a realistic budget, and then objectively look at all your options to resolve your financial challenges and get you back on track.
• 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 decide to go onto their debt repayment program, called a Debt Management Program, your chances of successfully completing it are high. People who complete this program with a quality non-profit organization also learn life-long skills – and it shows. These programs have less than a 1% recidivism rate (this compares to a 20% recidivism rate for insolvency).

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

• You may feel that you’re talking to a sales person rather than a credit counsellor.
• The “credit counsellors” who have lower success rates are often not professionally accredited, are not accountable to an accreditation body, and are not held to an objective, professional code of conduct and ethics. Credit Counselling Canada is the only national credit counselling association in Canada that prohibits its members from taking 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.
• The “credit counsellor” is paid commission and this is reflected in the “solutions” they promote and the alternative options they discourage. Sometimes the person who helps you is called a “debt consultant” and will attempt to charge you thousands of dollars for their help before then referring you to a less than reputable Licensed Insolvency Trustee. A quality non-profit credit counselling organization will not charge you fees and then refer you to someone else. If it looks like an insolvency option is in your best interest, then they’ll provide you with contact information for a number of local trustees they are comfortable with entirely for free.
• The “solution” to your situation will likely be a consumer proposal because that is the option that pays them the most and it sounds better than its big brother, bankruptcy (both are legal options governed by the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act). For many people who call themselves “credit counsellors” but aren’t a member of Credit Counselling Canada, there is quite possibly an 80% chance that you won’t leave their office without being convinced to sign up for a program that pays the credit counsellor or debt consultant 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.

So to summarize, there are a number of ways you can approach credit counselling in Canada. Many people who call themselves credit counsellors treat the people they help as a business and often put profits ahead of doing what’s in an individual’s best interest. Quality non-profits who are often members of Credit Counselling Canada tend to have high success rates because they put the interests of each individual they help first even if this means their organization will not make any money off of that individual (this happens around 95% of the time when people call in for help and around 80% of the time when people meet with a credit counsellor in person. You can see why a profit focused credit counsellor would not be happy helping this many people for free).

Quite possibly. A non-profit debt repayment plan (called a Debt Management Program) is a common alternative to insolvency including bankruptcy and a consumer proposal. To find out for sure if a Debt Management Program is a viable option in your case, you would need to speak with a credit counsellor. They’ll go over your entire financial picture with you and help you figure out what your best and most viable options are.

What happens in a credit counselling session depends on what kind of an organization you are dealing with. If you’re dealing with a for-profit agency, the goal is often to help you by getting you to sign up for one of the programs that pays the credit counsellor or their employer. If you’re dealing with a quality non-profit credit counselling agency such as a member of Credit Counselling Canada, they will typically spend close to an hour with you listening to you, finding out what your financial challenges are, finding out what your financial goals are, and the begin the solution process by first helping you put together a realistic budget. With your input, they will construct a budget for you from which you can then begin having a conversation about options that may work for you. The credit counsellor will then help you explore all options that could potentially address your situation. They’ll discuss the pros and cons with you with an eye towards finding something that will help you accomplish your financial goals, get you out of debt within a reasonable time period, and work within your budget.

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 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 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, 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 offers completely free appointments with its professionally accredited credit counsellors along with free online financial education workshops, free online financial resources, and an entire self-help educational website that is completely free. The only time the organization’s help is not free is if someone decides to go onto one of their debt relief programs. However, the costs for these programs are very low and the society has been known to waive them when they can see that people can’t afford them.

Help from the Credit Counselling Society has always been free – even when we started out in 1996 as the Credit Counselling Society of BC. Now we provide services nationwide, which is why some people refer to us as the Credit Counselling Society of Canada.

We offer professional, non-profit help to people throughout the province and across the country. If you’re looking for the best credit counselling Saskatoon has to offer, we are a trusted, certified, accountable, and highly rated option.

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 Saskatoon and the rest of the province to the Credit Counselling Society instead. So while government credit counselling Saskatoon no longer exists, their chosen replacement, the Credit Counselling Society does and is here to provide free credit counselling advice and guidance.

Yes, the Credit Counselling Society (CCS) is a legitimate and highly respected non-profit organization that’s been helping Canadians manage their money and debt for nearly 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.

In fact, many of our clients are referred to us by government departments and agencies from across the country. Some government organizations even use our educational resources and invite us to provide financial literacy training for 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.

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 at the heart of what we do. We have a dedicated team of full-time educators across Canada, and our outreach efforts have been recognized with multiple EIFLE Awards (Excellence in Financial Literacy Education) from the Institute for Financial Literacy.

We’re proud to be known as a great place to work. CCS has been named one of Canada’s 50 Best Workplaces multiple times and has been recognized for its commitment to women, millennials, fairness, giving back, and inclusion by Great Place to Work Canada®.

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

• We’re overseen by a volunteer board of directors made up of financial and professional experts from across Canada.
• Our finances are independently audited every year by an external accounting firm—something no other credit counselling organization in Canada does.
• We maintain our registered non-profit status with the Government of Canada.
• We’re accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and Credit Counselling Canada (CCC), our industry’s national association with the highest standards of transparency and accountability.
• We were also the first international affiliate of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC)—North America’s largest and most trusted non-profit credit counselling organization.

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.