Consumer Credit Counseling Services

www.cccsatl.org

100 Edgewood Avenue Suite 1800
Atlanta, GA 30303

Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) of Greater Atlanta has provided confidential debt-related counseling to individuals since 1964.

Atlanta business and community leaders headed by Mills Lane, president of Citizens & Southern National Bank, led the effort to establish CCCS of Greater Atlanta in the early 1960s. The agency was created as credit cards gained popularity to provide help for consumers having trouble managing debt. Incorporated in 1963, CCCS of Greater Atlanta opened its doors in Atlanta in 1964 as one of the first few such counseling services in the country. It is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization.

CCCS of Greater Atlanta dedicated itself to educating consumers in the wise use of credit. The agency’s mission was also to provide an impartial forum to help people manage and resolve debt problems. The agency quickly put in place a professional staff to offer free budget counseling, set up Debt Management Plans as deemed appropriate, and sponsored educational seminars.

CCCS of Greater Atlanta has always been governed by a community-based board of directors. Non-affiliated dignitaries who have endorsed the agency’s mission over the years include President Jimmy Carter, former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron.

The agency has maintained a partnership with the United Way and earned accreditation from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling and the Council on Accreditation for Children and Family Services.

For most of its history, the agency focused on in-person counseling offered in its offices spread around the Atlanta area. However, changes in technology and in federal law have greatly impacted the agency’s operations since the new millennium.

In 2000 CCCS of Greater Atlanta made substantial investments to upgrade its phone systems and improve its Internet accessibility. The new technology paved the way for the agency’s rapid growth in the ensuing years. In 2000 the agency provided counseling to 16,000 clients by phone and 5,000 over the Internet. In 2007, the agency’s bankruptcy clients alone accounted for more than 137,000 Internet counseling sessions. More than 28,000 people filing for bankruptcy received phone counseling from the agency.

A key reason for the agency’s increase in bankruptcy counseling during this time was the passage of the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. The law changed several of the rules for personal bankruptcy and added a new counseling requirement. To show they have received bankruptcy counseling, people must acquire a pre-filing and pre-discharge certificate from an agency approved by the Executive Office for United States Trustees. CCCS of Greater Atlanta was one of the first counseling agencies to receive approval to issue these certificates.

Since 2000, CCCS of Greater Atlanta has also expanded its face-to-face counseling capability outside its long-time home in Georgia. In 2001, the agency assumed responsibility for operations of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Palm Beach County/Treasure Coast in Florida. In 2004, the agency acquired the consumer credit counseling program of the Mississippi Children’s Home Services in Jackson, Miss. Also in 2004, the agency initiated a merger with Consumer Credit Counseling Service of East Tennessee in Knoxville. To better reflect the agency’s growing footprint, in 2004 Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta began using the name CredAbility and the phrase “A Member of the CredAbility™ Network” to describe its family of agencies.

CCCS of Greater Atlanta also expanded its cultural outreach in recent years. The agency began increasing its services to Spanish-speaking consumers in 2003 with the support of grants from the Goizueta Foundation and the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta. With the new funding, the agency increased bilingual staff, published materials in Spanish and developed a Spanish-language version of its Web site.

In October 2007 the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced CCCS of Greater Atlanta as a member of a new national alliance created to help homeowners who may not be able to pay their mortgages. The alliance reaches out to borrowers in distress to advise them to contact their lenders or a nonprofit credit counseling agency through the hotline number, 1.888.995.HOPE.