• A HUD-certified debt counseling agency can help you change negative spending habits.dollars image by peter Hires Images from Fotolia.com
  
  The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) provides a list of HUD-certified credit and debt counseling agencies on its website. These agencies provide consumers with the budgeting skills and savings tips that they can use to change negative spending habits. Unlike non-certified credit and debt counseling agencies, though, those affiliated with HUD must agree to certain requirements. Make sure that the agencies with whom you are considering working, follow these requirements. Working with a HUD-certified credit and debt counseling agency might save you a significant amount of money.
  
  

No-Charge Services

• Several HUD-certified debt and credit counseling agencies participate in the government agency's Housing Counseling Program. As part of this program, these agencies provide foreclosure-prevention advice and homeless counseling at no charge to consumers. If you do turn to a HUD-certified debt counseling agency for assistance on keeping your home, make sure that it does not charge you any fees for specific foreclosure-prevention services.
  
  

Fee Services

• As long as the services they provide are not related to foreclosure-prevention and homeless counseling, HUD-certified debt, credit and housing counseling agencies are allowed to charge what HUD calls reasonable fees--though the agency doesn't define what it considers "reasonable"--for other counseling services. These services include credit counseling, debt counseling, pre-purchase housing counseling services and other services.
  
  

Responsibilities

• Before they can charge fees, though, HUD-certified counseling agencies must first meet certain requirements. According to HUD's regulations, the counseling agencies must inform clients of the fee structure, and exactly what they'll be paying, before they begin providing them with any services. They must also offer their credit, debt and housing counseling services free of charge to those consumers who can't afford to pay the counseling agencies' fees.
  
  Finally, HUD-certified counseling agencies must charge fees that are commensurate with the services that they offer. This means that these agencies can't overcharge their customers, though HUD does not state definitively what a "commensurate" fee is.