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About Us
About Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Montana (CCCS of MT)
We are Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Montana.
Founded in 1968, Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Montana (CCCS of MT) is a non-profit agency. We are licensed in Montana and Wyoming with seven offices and provide face-to-face, over the phone, and internet services.
OUR MISSION:
To provide programs and develop partnerships to help youth, individuals, and families achieve economic independence. CCCS of MT provides confidential budget counseling, comprehensive housing counseling (rental, pre-purchase, 1st time homebuyers, foreclosure prevention, and reverse mortgage), preventive money management education programs and debt management to consumers from all walks of life.
CCCS of MT is accredited by the Council on Accreditation and is a member of the Better Business Bureau and the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC). Governed by a community-based Board of Directors, CCCS of MT is funded by creditors, clients, individual contributors, and grants from corporations, foundations, and government agencies.
OUR VISION:
To develop and maintain financially educated and responsible consumers.
OUR CODE OF ETHICS:
Consumer Credit Counseling Service is dedicated to providing confidential and professional counseling in aiding and rehabilitating financially distressed families and individuals regardless of race, creed, color, sex, social position, or financial status, and in fostering community - consumer education on family money management and the intelligent use of credit. Consumer Credit Counseling Service is a private, non-profit corporation.
We provide accurate and useful information to people about credit and money management in order to promote the wise use of money.
CCCS of MT works with individuals to help them develop a workable personal budget that will allow individuals to succeed in the long run. We strive to facilitate an alternative to personal bankruptcy through the establishment of debt management plans that will be both affordable to the individual and meaningful to the creditor.
In terms of debt settlement, we are not an agency that typically will request settlements with your creditors. However, there are times that collection agencies may accept "less than full" payoffs. Prior to making such a decision, you should find out how a "less than full" payoff would be reported to the credit bureaus.
Meet our highly qualified staff.
When we hire staff members we look for formal or informal training in individuals that gives them an aptitude for working through complex financial problems. In addition, all of our counselors are certified by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling within sixty days of hire and are under the supervision of an experienced certified counselor during that time period.
We are an independent, non-profit agency.
CCCS of MT is part of Rural Dynamics, Inc., a private 501(c)3 non-profit organization. CCCS of Montana has been serving Montana for over 40 years.
Our non-profit status means we try to save you as much money as possible when it comes to our counseling.
Financial counsels are free of charge to the client.
If a Debt Management Plan is established there is a one-time set up fee of $65. There is a minimal monthly charge that is necessary to service your account. This service fee is a percentage (10%) of your total DMP payment, but will not exceed $50 per month. On some occasions, these monthly and/or set-up fees can be waived. Ask your counselor how.
Pre-Bankruptcy Credit Counseling sessions are $50 per person filing.
Pre-Discharge Bankruptcy Education workshops are $50 per person who filed.
Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM) or Reverse Mortgage counseling sessions are $125.
There are three nationwide credit reporting agencies: TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. If you would like copies of your report(s) and score(s) we can pull and review them with you. Credit Report pulls are $15 for one report ($20 with credit score) or $35 for all three ($50 with credit scores).
The information you give to CCCS is always confidential.
Unless you have told someone else, the only people who know you have been counseled are you and the appropriate staff members of the agency. When a debt management plan (DMP) is activated, it is necessary, of course, to bring the creditors into the arrangement and, in doing so, notify them of your circumstances. This is one of the purposes of having you sign the 3rd Party Consent to Communicate form. In addition, this agency is also bound by the requirements of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act requiring us to keep your non-public information private unless we are given your written permission to share it.
Our funding:
The majority of the funding comes from creditors in conjunction with DMPs. Since creditors have financial interest in getting paid, most are willing to make a contribution to our agency.
We also receive money through grants and charitable contributions.
Because we are a 501(c)3 non-profit all of our finances are available to you online here.
Furthermore, We Pledge to Our...
CREDITORS: To provide a debt liquidation program equitable to all creditors, thereby reducing bankruptcy filings and optimizing debt recovery.
CLIENTS: To assist the client in achieving financial independence by providing a resolution for financial problems through confidential counseling, education, debt management services, and intervention between clients and creditors, regardless of race, creed, national origin, sex, handicap, social position or financial status.
STAFF: To provide resources for training, skill development, favorable working conditions, and comparable compensation.
COMMUNITY: To improve fiscal stability through providing financial education and returning capital back to the community.
NATIONAL FOUNDATION: To recognize the Code of Ethics, policy and guidelines established by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling and to be a model Consumer Credit Counseling Service for the nation.
BOARD: To govern and set policies by a free expression/exchange of ideas and opinions with people from varied backgrounds. Maintain a reasonable degree of board education and practice of our responsibility in policy development, oversight and fiscal management, in part to avoid incurring legal liability.