How Are Credit Counseling Agencies Funded?

How Cambridge Credit Counseling Is Funded#

Cambridge Credit Counseling is supported by the monthly fees paid by its clients and also receives funding or grants from some creditors for the counseling and education it provides. Under a Cambridge Credit Counseling Debt Management Plan, the client makes one monthly payment and Cambridge pays the client’s creditors on the client’s behalf. That single payment structure is part of how we sustain our counseling and education programs.

Why Cambridge Credit Counseling’s Nonprofit Status Matters#

Cambridge Credit Counseling is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit agency established in 1996 that has provided credit counseling and financial literacy education to consumers nationwide since its inception. As a nonprofit, we offer credit counseling, housing counseling, reverse mortgage counseling, and bankruptcy counseling services, rather than operating as a for-profit business selling debt products. Fees on a Debt Management Plan through Cambridge are set within the maximum allowed in your state, according to what you can afford, and every dollar of those fees helps fund the counseling and education services we provide.

Accountability Through Memberships and Codes of Practice#

Cambridge Credit Counseling is a member of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling and the Financial Counseling Association of America. Cambridge Credit Counseling is accredited to the Financial Counseling Association of America’s Code of Practice, a set of rules governing the actions of credit counseling agencies. Our counselors are certified through the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, and many other staff members are certified through the Partnership for Financial Education, which adds another layer of oversight to how we operate.

Free Credit Counseling for Consumers#

Cambridge Credit Counseling offers credit counseling as a free service to consumers who are having difficulty paying credit card and other unsecured bills. There is never any obligation to enroll in a Debt Management Plan after a credit counseling session. Creditors may also extend benefits such as a reduction in credit card interest rates to clients of a consumer credit counseling agency like Cambridge Credit Counseling, which is one reason creditor funding supports this type of counseling.

What to Do Next#

If you want to understand your options without any pressure to sign up for anything, we offer a free credit counseling session to consumers looking for ways out of debt. You can use that session to ask questions about how we work and what a Debt Management Plan would involve for your situation, including what its fees would be.

What a debt management plan actually does

• Interest paidOur typical client would have paid $44,676 in interest on their own, against $4,936 in interest and our fees on the plan
• Interest ratesCreditors cut them from 28.99% to 7% on average
• Monthly payment35.7% lower on average, or 31.1% after our fees
• Time to pay off38 months on average, against a 52-month plan

Cambridge Credit Counseling client data: 6,809 enrollments in the year to 30 June 2026, and 1,434 plan completions in 2025. Prepared by Brian Vosburgh, Director of DMP Operations, September 2026.

Your own result depends on your debts, your budget and what your creditors agree to.