Free Credit & Debt Counselling Services in Ottawa

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:

• They belong to Credit Counselling Canada, a nationwide network of non-profit agencies that follow rigorous standards of transparency and service quality.
• 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 staff members aren’t paid commissions or given incentives tied to the recommendations they make, so they are able to provide you with objective guidance.
• Roughly 95% of people who reach out for help don’t pay anything, and only about 20% go on to join the organization’s repayment program. The rest either receive advice they can follow on their own or are referred to another professional for a more specialized kind of 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).

In contrast, credit counselling services with lower success rates tend to operate quite differently. Here’s what they often look like:

• You may feel more like you’re speaking with a salesperson rather than someone who is there to fully and truly help you.
• 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 may tend to push their clients toward filing a consumer proposal with a Licensed Insolvency Trustee (bankruptcy trustee) because this earns them more money. Sadly, many will effectively double charge their clients in doing this by first charging them thousands for a consumer proposal before referring them to a bankruptcy trustee who is legally the only one allowed to charge for a consumer proposal.
• These “credit counsellors” earn commissions on the “solutions” they sell and this naturally influences their advice. These people may also call themselves debt consultants or financial wellness experts and often charge large upfront fees before eventually referring their clients to a less than ethical bankruptcy trustee. A legitimate non-profit agency that is accredited by Credit Counselling Canada will never do this. If it looks like an insolvency option is your best choice, they’ll tell you and simply give you a list of local trustees they trust at no cost.
• 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.
• With consumer proposals and bankruptcies, around 20% of people end up repeating the process. One reason for this is that many of these individuals aren’t helped to understand and address the root causes of their financial struggles. Quality credit counselling agencies do this—and that’s part of why they achieve better long-term outcomes.

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).

Just talking to a credit counsellor won’t impact your credit score—it’s completely private and isn’t reported to anyone. But if you enroll in a Debt Management Program, then this may impact your credit score. Sometimes it affects your score, and sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s safer to assume that it will. That said, the impact only lasts until two years after you finish the program. At that point, the credit agency removes the program from your credit report, and with the right steps, your credit score can recover quickly. Your counsellor can let you know what to do to rebuilding your credit score. A credit rebuilding program is actually a part of our Debt Management Program.

In the big picture, any negative effects of a Debt Management Program (DMP) on your credit report are very short term compared to the alternatives. The alternatives could be:

• Repaying your debt on your own. If you’re really struggling to pay your bills, then your credit has likely already been dramatically impacted so going on a DMP will only help you fix your credit sooner. Continuing on your own at this point would likely drag things out for an extended period of time and just keep your credit in the ditch for a longer period of time.
• Trying to qualify for a debt consolidation loan if your credit cards are maxed out and you don’t have some good collateral to offer such as a newer vehicle (without a loan or lease) or real estate probably isn’t going to work out great, and if you end up getting a loan with an interest rate near 30% or higher, you’ll have difficulty paying it off and improving your credit any time soon.
• Getting rid of your debt faster by filing for insolvency through either bankruptcy or a consumer proposal. One of the downsides of this approach is that it destroys your credit for a minimum of 6 years and leaves you with a permanent legal record.

We don’t share all of this to discourage you, but rather to point out that a DMP can be a very helpful and effective tool when used in the right set of circumstances. These other options can also be viable when used in the right set of circumstances. Feel free to speak with one of our credit counsellors to see what options might work best for your financial situation.

You can talk to one of our credit counsellors as often as you like, and it will never be recorded on your credit report. However, if you decide to complete a Debt Management Program through your credit counsellor and a recognized non-profit like the Credit Counselling Society, any notation on your credit report will disappear no later than two years after your final payment. This is much faster than the six years for bankruptcy. It also clears from your credit report about a year sooner than a consumer proposal and, unlike proposals, doesn’t leave any record in the public court system or impact future employment options.

Your experience will depend on the type of organization you choose. If it’s a for-profit company, their priority may be enrolling you in a program that earns them money. But if it’s a non-profit like one accredited by Credit Counselling Canada, the session will be very different.

You’ll likely spend close to an hour with a counsellor who listens to your concerns, learns about your situation and goals, and then helps you build a realistic budget that works. From there, you’ll review all the options that might help, weighing the pros and cons of each. The goal is to find a solution that fits your situation, helps you get out of debt within a reasonable time, and stays within your budget.

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 a Debt Management Program seems like your best option, they’ll encourage you to take time to decide and even run it by someone you trust.

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 Ontario. We serve the province with phone and in-person appointments from multiple offices across Ontario.

No, the Government of Ontario does not offer credit counselling. We can say, though, that many provincial government agencies across Canada refer people to us every day. The federal government does too, plus they use our resources and have us provide financial education workshops for their employees.

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.

Yes. We offer no-cost credit counselling, financial education, and other free resources. More than half of our clients ultimately choose a self-managed plan that costs them nothing. In these cases, we create a personalized action plan and invite you to check in with your counsellor—at no charge—whenever you want advice, encouragement, or help tackling new challenges. When it comes to our debt repayment program, if we believe that someone truly can’t afford the fees, we waive them.

Yes. The Canadian Credit Counselling Society offers free counselling sessions with trained professionals, free educational webinars, and a full website with tools and resources—all without cost. The only time a fee applies is if someone joins one of the Society’s debt relief programs. Even then, the costs are low, and fees can be waived if someone can’t afford them.

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.

Our organization delivers professional, non-profit services to people locally and nationwide. When it comes to finding the best credit counselling Ottawa offers, you can count on us for trusted guidance, proven accountability, and top client ratings.

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.

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.

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.

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®.

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.

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

• Our finances are independently audited every year by an external accounting firm—something no other credit counselling organization in Canada does.
• We’re governed by a volunteer board of directors composed of financial and professional experts from all across 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 maintain our registered non-profit status with the Government of Canada.
• We were the very first international affiliate of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC)—North America’s leading 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.