86 - Stacy Yanchuk-Oleksy

Stacy Yanchuk-Oleksy wants you to see a non-profit credit counsellor if you have credit problems.

Stacy is Director of Education and Community Awareness at the Credit Counselling Society.

If you’ve listened to episode 76 of the show, you know that I had credit problems 11 years ago. I filed a consumer proposal with a licenced insolvency trustee, under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act of Canada.

My case was severe so I skipped the first step that many take and that’s going to see a credit counsellor first to discuss options.

There are a lot of great people out there looking to actually help you get out of debt.

Whether you see a counsellor or a trustee, most will help you make the right move for your debt situation.

As Stacy and I discuss in the interview, just make sure that you don’t pay anything upfront for debt solutions and don’t just click on the first link in the online search.

There are websites and companies that appear to be offering debt settlement solutions, but they are just payday lenders in disguise.

Make sure you find out about the company that you’re dealing with. The legitimate trustees and non-profit credit counsellors have nothing to hide. They have names of staff and locations and they are active on social media.

Stacy is very proud of the free workshops and educational resources that the Credit Counselling Society provides in order to try to prevent Canadians from getting into unmanageable debt in the first place.

The most important thing to me is that you know what your options are when you’re in trouble. And I fully recommend you take advantage of free consultations with as many organizations as you can handle. Go meet them in person and talk to them about solutions. Everyone’s situation is different and the more information you have from multiple sources, the better you will be at determining which solution works for you and more importantly, the one you can live with.

Stacy joined me in the studio in Hamilton to tell her personal finance story.

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87 - Robert Farrington

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