Counseling and education requirements

In general, you must file a certificate of credit counseling completion when you file for bankruptcy, and evidence of completion of debtor education after you file for bankruptcy – but before your debts are discharged. Only credit counseling organizations and debtor education course providers that have been approved* by the U.S. Trustee Program may issue these certificates. To protect against fraud, the certificates are produced through a central automated system and are numbered.

Pre-Bankruptcy Credit Counseling

A pre-bankruptcy counseling session should include an evaluation of your personal financial situation, a discussion of alternatives to bankruptcy, and a personal budget plan. A typical counseling session should last about 60 to 90 minutes, and can take place in person, on the phone, or online. Cambridge is required to provide the counseling free of charge for those consumers who cannot afford to pay. Please see our Fee Waiver Policy below. We are required to discuss any fees with you before starting the counseling session. Once you have completed the required counseling, you will get a certificate as proof. Cambridge will not charge an extra fee for the certificate.

Post-Filing Debtor Education

Our debtor education course will include information on developing a budget, managing money, using credit wisely, and other resources. Our debtor education course is provided online only and will take longer to complete than the pre-filing counseling – about two hours. As with pre-filing counseling, if you are unable to pay the session fee, you should seek a fee waiver from the debtor education provider. Check the list of approved debtor education providers at the bankruptcy clerk's office in your district, or by visiting the website for the Department of Justice, Executive Office of United States Trustees.

Once you have completed the required debtor education course, you will receive a certificate as proof. This certificate is separate from the certificate you received after completing your pre-filing credit counseling. Cambridge does not charge an extra fee for the certificate.

Fee-Waiver Policy

Cambridge will not refuse services to anyone due to their inability to pay. Cambridge agrees to waive its fee if the consumer or debtor student has income less than 150 percent of the applicable poverty guideline last published by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) (click here to view poverty guidelines). If you wish to see if you qualify for a fee waiver, please call Cambridge and speak with a representative at (800) 403-3433. The income of a spouse is included in calculating income, whether or not a joint petition is filed, unless the spouses are separated and a joint petition is not filed. The income of any other family member listed as a dependent will also be included.

Required Disclosures

Federal Law requires that consumers receive a Budget and Credit Counseling Briefing within 180 days before filing for personal bankruptcy. Cambridge is approved to issue certificates in compliance with the Bankruptcy Code in AK, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, ND, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY, and USVI however the United States Trustee does not endorse or assure the quality of any one particular agency’s services. The Trustee has reviewed only Cambridge’s Budget and Credit Counseling Briefing services and Personal Financial Management Instruction Course and has not approved any other services Cambridge offers.

Upon completion of your course, Cambridge is obligated to promptly provide you with a copy of your certificate within one business day. You will only receive this certificate upon your successful completion of the Budget and Credit Counseling Briefing, which includes completing the mandatory interaction with a counselor when the online portion of the briefing has been completed. It is your responsibility to ensure that your attorney has received your certificate by the date required for your filing. If you do not file a bankruptcy petition within this time frame, you may be required to complete pre-filing counseling again if your certificate has expired in order to file personal bankruptcy.

Cambridge provides Budget and Credit Counseling Briefings in English. If you require counseling in a language other than English, please Visit the USTP’s list of approved agencies and locate an agency that provides services in a language you are fluent in.

Cambridge does not offer legal advice or opinion on the suitability or availability of bankruptcy as an option for you. The information provided by Cambridge is understood to be a general discussion of the subject matter and does not constitute legal opinion about your particular situation. If you want legal or tax advice, you will need to seek appropriate assistance from other parties.

The cost of an individual or joint Budget and Credit Counseling Briefing and related certificate is $25.00. Payment of the fee must be received by Cambridge in advance of or at the time of the counseling briefing. The fee is payable by electronic payment as presented in the web based application or by telephone. Cambridge will not refuse services to anyone due to their inability to pay. Cambridge agrees to waive its fee if the consumer or debtor student has income less than 150 percent of the applicable poverty guideline last published by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The U.S. poverty guidelines can be found by clicking here.

If you wish to see if you qualify for a fee waiver, please call Cambridge and speak with a representative at (800) 403-3433. The income of a spouse is included in calculating income, whether or not a joint petition is filed, unless the spouses are separated and a joint petition is not filed. The income of any other family member listed as a dependent will also be included.

Cambridge is funded by fees charged for pre-bankruptcy Budget and Credit Counseling Briefings and pre-discharge Personal Financial Management Instructions Courses, as well as by client fees and creditor contributions from non-bankruptcy related Debt Management Plans, and grants related to our housing counseling or other charitable and educational efforts in the community.

Counselors are required to achieve and maintain certification as a Certified Personal Finance Counselor through the Partnership for Financial Education (PFE) or the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) within 6 months of employment. To maintain our staff’s certifications, Cambridge arranges for at least 20 continuing education units (CEUs) every two years, an amount that satisfies the continuing education requirements of PFE and NFCC.

Cambridge does not report your participation in a Budget and Credit Counseling Briefing or a Personal Financial Management Instruction course, nor does it pull your credit report in order to provide these services. Therefore, these services have no effect on your credit rating. However, filing for bankruptcy protection or participating in a Debt Management or Debt Settlement Plan may have an adverse effect on your credit rating.

Cambridge does not pay or receive referral fees for referral of clients. To complete your Budget and Credit Counseling Briefing, you will be required to speak with a counselor.

At least 60 days prior to filing bankruptcy, you may utilize a nonprofit budget and credit counseling agency approved by the United States trustee to negotiate a reasonable alternative repayment schedule for you. In the event your creditors refuse to negotiate a reasonable repayment schedule with the approved agency, their claims against you may be reduced by the court by up to 20%. Please consult with an attorney for more information. Cambridge does not offer debt reduction plans designed to accommodate this section of the bankruptcy code described in 11 U.S.C. §502(k). Cambridge may refer you to another approved agency for these services and you may incur additional fees to the other approved agency in connection with such a referral, however, Cambridge is not aware of any other approved agencies that offer this service at this time.

Privacy Notice

Over the years, clients have trusted Cambridge Credit Counseling Corp. ("Cambridge Credit") to protect the security and confidentiality of their personal information. We are grateful for this trust, and would like to take this opportunity to familiarize clients with the manner in which Cambridge Credit gathers, uses and maintains nonpublic personal information about consumers and clients. This Privacy Notice complies with Federal Law and regulations concerning the privacy of the nonpublic personal information of individuals.

We collect nonpublic personal information about you from the following sources:

1. Information we receive from you on an application or other forms (examples include, but are not limited to: name and address, social security number, account numbers, balances, creditors and unsecured loans);
2. Information about your transactions with us, our affiliates, or others.

We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about our customers or former customers to anyone, except as permitted or required by law. We may disclose your information to the Trustee in connection with the Trustee’s oversight of our agency, or during an investigation of complaints, during on-site visits, or during quality of service reviews. We restrict access to nonpublic personal information about you to those employees who need to know that information to provide services to you. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with federal regulations to guard your nonpublic personal information. Remember, at Cambridge Credit Counseling Corp. we take the security of your private information very seriously. As such, we will NEVER give your email address to anyone for any reason unless compelled to do so by legal authority.