Although, twenty or thirty years ago, the Consumer Credit Counseling solution seemed (at best) an embarrassing fad of the times to be shelved along with mood rings, a broader understanding of how debt relief has developed should demonstrate the ways in which the survival of Credit Counseling makes every bit of sense, considering the problems that filing bankruptcy now present for most citizens. Should one purely view the debt relief revolution in terms of the federal legislature’s diminishment of governmental shielding to preserve the estates of consumers fallen to hapless poverty and threatened with damaging long term consequences, something was bound to replace the traditional American reliance upon Chapter 7 protection.

Given that the brick and mortar presence of Consumer Credit Counseling firms subtly conveyed the impression of an alternative toward filing bankruptcy – though never, never, never the correct one – just as Congressional fiat neutered the Chapter 7 bankruptcy statutes and the imminent recession turned on the overhead lights for millions living beyond their means, the Consumer Credit Card Debt Counseling companies stood to inherit the sudden onrush of middle class men and women sufficiently educated to acknowledge their limitations but not yet so frightened as to question the gravitational pull of the Consumer Credit Counseling trend. However ultimately misguided and self serving the CCC philosophy of managed care may appear when attempting to clear away the revolving lines of credit, however demonstrably inefficient the debt relief measures subsidized by credit card companies solely intent on preventing consumers from filing bankruptcy or settlement negotiation, tip your hat to the largely unaffiliated Consumer Credit Card Debt Counseling gangs who knew just where the handsome(non) profits regularly granted should be sunk.

As should seem readily apparent for any curious debtor willing to spend just a moment or two examining the prototypical Consumer Credit Counseling debt management estimate for genuine benefits instead of merely surrendering control of family finances to the first debt relief agents willing to shoulder the responsibility, the average citizen’s admiration of consumer counseling providers rises proportionally to the citizen’s ignorance of specific services rendered. Indeed, while Americans may no longer feel the same sense of obligation to alert their countrymen about each and every complaint they may have regarding financial services, the information revolution brought about by the advances in digital technology has if anything helped ease the passage and distribution of data and so aided the efficacy of these sorts of programs. Still yet fast cash, the normalization of credit counseling services as an alternative to filing bankruptcy and ordinary means of financial rebirth open to everyman (or woman) has happened so quickly, we should all appreciate the importance of acting with due deliberation.

Now that settlement has seemingly sprouted up from comparable anonymity (not too long ago, it was only the fall back measure of investment bankers facing margin calls), the oldest methods of consumer protection have shown difficulties shielding our most at risk borrowers from the rapacious advancement of companies that have failed to demonstrate the least capacity for qualified or trustworthy economic stewardship. In reality, the preponderance of Consumer Credit Counseling companies existing under non profit regulations speaks to nothing more noble than the happy confluence of easily exploited tax loopholes, financially adroit entrepreneurs absent any desire to invest in their own firms, and financial counselors paid entirely upon commission who haven’t much motivation to clarify the issues for potential customers who merely want to repay debts and still avoid filing bankruptcy.