Is a Debt Management Plan Right For Me?

If your financial assessment indicates that, despite your income, you won’t be able to pay down your unsecured debt in a reasonable timeframe without significant concessions from your creditors – such as interest rate reductions or fee waivers – your counselor may suggest that you enroll in our debt management plan, often referred to as a DMP.

The average monthly fee for a debt management plan client is usually low, our current average is roughly $25 per month, and we waive fees for consumers in particular difficulty. This leads many people to wonder how we stay in business. In return for the financial education that we provide to consumers, some creditors make donations to our agency, which cannot total more than 50% of our annual income. We are obligated to advise you in your best interests, not your creditors’ best interests.

After your assessment, your counselor will advise you as to whether a DMP is appropriate for your circumstances. Please bear in mind that a DMP is not the recommended course of action for everyone. Only 15% of the individuals we talk to in a given month join a DMP. Many people already have enough income to handle their debt, but need to establish budget priorities or make adjustments so they can make their payments more comfortably. Others have so little income that the concessions typically granted by their creditors still won’t result in affordable payments. If either is true in your case, it will be your counselor’s responsibility to advise you that a DMP isn’t appropriate for your circumstances. That doesn’t mean we aren’t going to help you – we’ll still provide all the educational resources we have to help you deal with your situation more effectively, and we’ll even show you how to request creditor concessions on your own – but in such circumstances we won’t recommend a debt management plan.

If a DMP is the best course of action, your counselor will process all of your information, particularly with respect to your specific creditors, and then go over every possible aspect of the program with you.  The counselor will let you know what your monthly payment would be, which of your creditors is likely to grant concessions and which may not, and let you know how long it would take under the plan to pay off your debt.  The counselor will answer any question you may have, allowing you to make the informed decision that’s best for you.

If You Become a Client...

We Invite You to Take Advantage of Us

Debt management, by its very nature, is much more than a glorified bill-paying service; it’s an educational process designed to teach you how to avoid similar difficulties in the future. Like many other programs, however, the amount you get out of it is proportional to the effort you make to participate.

Your personal counselor is the first part of the process.  After analyzing your financial circumstances, he or she will help you learn the specific steps you’ll need to take to address your situation, and they will contact you, throughout your enrollment, to check on your progress, offer their encouragement, and help you deal with any new issues that may have arisen. These post-counseling sessions can be immensely rewarding, particularly if you’ve followed through with your counselor’s original advice.

At the same time, while your balances are being paid down, you’ll have a perfect opportunity to use our agency’s array of resources to learn about areas of personal finance you may never have had the chance to find out about before. Our websites, GoodPayer.com and learnnoworpaylater.com, were each created for you. The articles posted there are for your use. The interactive budgeting feature and financial calculators are for you to use, any time you want, for free. We also want you to read the guidebooks we’ll send to you, and watch the DVD – they’re for you, too, and the information they contain can help you and your family reach a better understanding of your finances.

Finally, if you live in New England, we’d also love to have you stop by our office or attend one of the many free seminars held in our office. Just call our toll-free Education Department number, (800) 756-4912, ext. 5110, for information about times and locations.

The notion that people who don’t learn from their mistakes are bound to repeat them is particularly true when it comes to personal finance.  Repeating any of the financial missteps you’ve taken in the past can impact your family’s future, often seriously, but it doesn’t have to be that way. If you’re a Cambridge client, and even if you aren’t, we encourage you to utilize every one of our agency's educational resources to the fullest.  You’ll be glad you did.

Debt Management Program Features

In addition to our educational programs, Cambridge offers a number of unique programs and features to help make your DMP experience as successful as can be. Cambridge clients enjoy:

• A Fully-Staffed Client Services Department
  Our courteous representatives are trained to take a pro-active approach to both the clients' and the creditors' needs. We have strategically developed our Client Services Department to handle a large volume of telephone inquiries, reducing the amount of time you might spend on hold.
• Automated Account Information System
  This state-of-the-art system allows our clients and their creditors access to their account information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This information includes the date when payments came in, when they go out, as well as check-stub information. Clients can also receive a full payment history by mail or fax on command. In addition, clients have the ability to leave inquiries about their accounts on our Audix voice-mail system. These inquiries are then researched and answered by our Client Services Department.
• State-of-the-Art Call Center Technology
  Our Call-In Center features one of the most technologically advanced communications systems in the industry. This system is designed to manage and distribute more than 20,000 calls per hour!
• Custom-Designed Software
  Our Client Tracking System was custom-designed to help our Client Services Representatives process any query in an expeditious manner. This software enables our Payment Processing Department to routinely process and disburse thousands of payments at a time. This system also generates proposals, which are then forwarded to the client's creditors, informing them that the client has joined the program.
• A Variety of Payment Options
  Each client who joins our program is provided with a Monthly Statement as a friendly reminder at payment time. Alternate methods of payment include fund transfers between the client's bank and our own, and Western Union Quick Collect and MoneyGram services, which provides a quick and easy way to transmit payments directly to us within minutes.
• Hardship Program
  For clients on our program who encounter further financial difficulty, we offer alternative solutions such as our Hardship Program. These alternative programs are designed to further alleviate financial pressures, and are managed in-house by a staff trained to maximize their effectiveness.