Should You Consider Credit Counselling Services?
Hardly anyone applies for credit thinking they’ll ever get behind in payments. Just like no one goes into business anticipating that one day they’ll go bankrupt.
People, situations and circumstances come into your life that may give you an unintended result. It happens! We get it!
I encourage you to read Jane’s story.
Jane (an alias to protect her identity) runs a bridal boutique in Southern Ontario. And as you can imagine, brides come into her store several months before their wedding day to carefully select the perfect dress for the big day.
In order to move forward with the fitting phase, brides had to purchase their wedding dresses. Jane would then send the dress to a couturier to tailor the dress to perfection.
But even though Jane had accepted the funds for the dresses, Jane was having cash flow issues. This was not unusual in her business. Her business was seasonal, a feast or famine kind of business. If history did its part, cash flow would pick up in the spring, and she’d be able to catch up.
Jane is a very private person and didn’t tell a soul about her cash flow issues. She continued to operate planning for a good season to balance her books.
But when spring came and sales didn’t pick up like a normal year, she had a problem paying her suppliers. Her season was being crushed by unforeseen circumstances.
To make matters worse, a new chain of bridal stores moved in close by cutting her seasonal earnings by half. These bigger retailers had put huge cash into buying Google Ads and local billboards. The foot traffic to her store came to a halt. Her small boutique was getting crushed under the weight of competition.
Jane may have had options earlier on, but she didn’t seek credit counselling services until it was too late. Things quickly went from salvageable to ugly.
By the time she came through our door, it was obvious that bankruptcy was her only choice. This left a lot of brides-to-be, desperately scrambling to find new gowns. What was sadder, is the small town shamed and shunned her. The local media had a field day exposing the “drama” the bankruptcy caused, and she even received death threats. It was tragic for the brides and for Jane.
Sure, credit counselling services may not help everyone, but it’s certainly better than waiting it out until it’s too late.
Then there’s Rob (name also changed).
Rob’s a welder by trade. He had always been a really great provider for his family. But when he got injured things took an unexpected turn.
What he did not expect was that the insurance would stall on making good on his claim. A legal battle ensued and his claim wouldn’t settle for 5 more years.
By year 2, his savings had been depleted and he had nothing left to stay afloat. With no work income and his savings being distributed to law firms for litigation, he found himself having to sell his house, his camper, his fishing boat and everything he owned just to survive.
When Rob came in for credit counselling services, we understood that he had to keep going, just long enough for the legal system to force a settlement on the insurance company. Once that settlement came in, he’d get his life back. But what’s he supposed to do till then?
These are never easy times for our clients.
These are good people that often can’t foresee such circumstances that can devastate their earning potential and their lives. In each case, credit counselling services, before it’s too late, is the better option. We strongly advise you to seek professional advice while you may still have options.
What can you expect from our credit counselling services?
Step 1. Book an appointment to speak with a professional over the phone. We’ll make a quick assessment of your situation and provide some options. Typically, if we know we can help, we’ll suggest coming into one of our offices for a meeting.
Step 2. We’ll review in detail your personal and business financial position.
Step 3. Our experience will dictate the opportunities to move you into a positive situation.
Step 4. We present you with options.
Step 5. We help you choose a plan and get you started.
If all you need is a credit counselling services and a Debt Management Program, we’ll get you started. Consumer proposal is often the best choice, and we’ll help you through that. If bankruptcy is the only option, we’ll advise you on that too.
In many cases, Bankruptcy is actually a huge relief so you too can start thinking of your NEW life. There is no point hanging on to the old negative energy. There is no point staying in the frozen state of inaction.
This is what we do best. We’re not here to judge how you got into this situation, we are here to give you a definitive roadmap to financial well-being. We look forward to having a conversation when you need it.