Nonprofit-backed financial counseling
A real counselor reads your statements, builds a budget around your actual paycheck, and stays on the call while you negotiate with the people you owe. No loans to sell you. No judgment.
$6,140
avg. debt cut for clients
4.2 months
to a budget that holds
2,847
households counseled since 2019
$6,140
average debt cut through negotiation
4.2 mo
average time to a working budget
What we do
We sit down with three months of your real statements — not a template — and build a spending plan around the paycheck you actually get, including the irregular weeks.
Most clients keep the plan past month six.
We map every balance, call your creditors on your behalf when it helps, and sequence payments so the highest-interest debt stops bleeding you first.
Average client cuts 14 months off their timeline.
Shutoff notice, eviction filing, repo truck outside — this is same-week help to stop the bleeding, then a plan for what comes after.
Calls answered within one business day, most within hours.
The process
Tell a counselor what is actually going on, no judgment and no sales pitch. We figure out together whether we can help.
Bank statements, bills, the debt you have been avoiding opening. We read every line so you do not have to relive it out loud.
A written budget and, if there is debt, a payoff order. You get a PDF and a 30-minute walkthrough call.
Twenty minutes a month for as long as you want them. We adjust the plan when life does what life does.
"I called after my hours got cut at the plant. I expected a lecture about lattes. Instead we found $340 a month I didn't know I was losing to three subscriptions and a car warranty I'd forgotten I bought, and used it to stop a repo notice."
Marcus R., Toledo, OH
Client since March 2024
Questions
The first call and the initial plan are free, funded through our nonprofit partners and a sliding-scale fee on ongoing coaching. If you cannot pay anything, monthly check-ins stay free — we ask, we do not means-test.
No. We do not take referral fees from lenders, and we are not a law firm. If a debt settlement company or bankruptcy attorney is genuinely the better move, we will tell you and point you to someone we trust.
That is most of who we work with — tipped work, gig platforms, seasonal trades. The budget is built around your lowest realistic month, with a plan for what to do with the good ones.
Talking to us never touches your credit. If we help you negotiate a settlement or you enter a structured repayment plan, we walk through exactly what that does and does not do to your score before you decide anything.
Get started
Leave your name and a way to reach you. We'll find a time this week — evenings and Saturdays included, because most of the people we work with can't take a 2pm Tuesday call.