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I had lunch today with Anthony Benedetto, a credit counsellor with the Catholic Family Counselling Centre (at Mellville's Cafe, in case anyone is interested, because it's a short walk from both of our Cambridge offices).
Anthony is based out of Kitchener, but meets with clients in Cambridge, usually every Friday. Anthony and the Catholic Family Counselling Centre are the only not-for-profit credit counsellors serving Cambridge, Ontario, and they are a fully accredited member of the Ontario Association of Credit Counselling Services. Despite their name, they are non-denominational; they provide help to the entire Cambridge community.
Anthony told me that most of his work in Cambridge comes from referrals from various agencies in Cambridge, including the hospital and various Employee Assistance Programs at local companies. However, you don't need a referral to meet with Anthony.
To book a confidential appointment, Anthony suggests you call Catholic Family Counselling Centre's main number at (519) 743-6333 and ask for credit counseling. In order to fully understand your situation, they will do exactly what we do at Hoyes Michalos: they will ask you for detailed information about your debts, income, assets and living expenses. They will also invite you to one of their information sessions where you can learn more about their programs.
They will then begin a four-step process that includes a detailed financial assessment, identification of your problems, discussion of all options, and then the selection of an action plan.
As discussed in a previous post about their services, credit counselling is an alternative to bankruptcy, where Catholic Family Counselling Centre works out a plan for you to repay your creditors.
Anthony tells me that the typical person he works with in Cambridge has monthly income of between $1,500 to $2,000 per month (although he works with lots of people with income higher or lower than that range), and to pay their debts in full through a debt management plan a typical plan may involve payments of $500 per month over a three to four year period.
Of course no one plan fits everyone, so Anthony will meet with you to work out a plan that's right for you.
Anthony's approach is the same as mine: let's find the solution that works best for you. He may be able to help you work out a budget to get back on track. You may need a debt management plan administered through the Catholic Family Counselling Centre. Anthony may decide that a more appropriate solution would be a consumer proposal or personal bankruptcy, in which case he will give you a list of the trustees in Cambridge that are able to help.
As lunch ended Anthony told me about a client he had recently helped who thanked Anthony for "giving him hope". I think that's a great summary of the work Anthony and the Catholic Family Counselling Centre does for the people of Cambridge.
At least once a week someone says to me "sorry I'm late, we had trouble finding your bankruptcy office here in Cambridge." We have deliberately chosen a non-flashy office; we don't have a big sign on the door that says Bankruptcy or Consumer Proposals, since in my experience most people don't want everyone to know that they are meeting with a bankruptcy trustee, which sometimes means our office is hard to find.
Our office is located at 8 George Street North. We are on the second floor of a dental office building. (That's a picture of our office in the upper right hand corner of this article).
For better directions, you can get a map at Google Maps.
One last word of advice: we are located in downtown Galt, so if you are coming from Hespeler or Preston, beware of Highway 24! It is not unusual for it to take 25 minutes to travel from Highway 24 and Highway 401 to our office at the end of the day. From the north it is often faster to go over to Blair Road and go south on Blair Road. Blair turns into George Street, which is where we are located, and it allows you to avoid Highway 24/Hespeler Road altogether.
For more detailed directions, or to book an appointment, give us a call at 519-622-3773 (don’t forget to dial the area code!) or e-mail me a question.
Tagged as: personal bankruptcy, bankruptcy Cambridge, consumer proposal.
Although you have found this blog entry on the bankruptcy-cambridge.com web site, I don't want to talk about bankruptcy.
When I meet with people in my Cambridge, Ontario office (on George Street in Galt), I always discuss a little known bankruptcy alternative called a consumer proposal.
A consumer proposal is a deal that we negotiate on your behalf with your creditors. Here's an example: I met with a person last month who had $25,000 in credit card debt. His hours were cut back at work, and now he is behind on his payments, and some of the credit cards have been turned over to a collection agency. He has a job and can make some payment each month, but he can't afford to pay what they are asking for; the high interest is just too much.
He knows he owes the money and he doesn't want to go bankrupt, but he doesn't make enough to qualify for a debt consolidation loan. The solution may be a consumer proposal.
In this case he offered a consumer proposal where he contributes $200 per month for the next three years; as the proposal administrator my firm, Hoyes Michalos & Associates Inc., takes the $200 and distributes it to the creditors, with the larger creditors getting a bigger share of the proceeds.
Since I file more consumer proposals in Cambridge each year than any other trustee, I am confident that his proposal will be accepted by the creditors. He will have one monthly payment to make, and he no longer has to worry about creditors garnisheeing his wages or calling him at home and at work.
A consumer proposal is not the solution for everyone, but for many people it is the best solution, so I encourage you to e-mail us or call us in Cambridge at 519-622-3773 or 310-PLAN so that we can review your situation and help you decide which option is best for you.
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SITE SPONSOR |
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This site is sponsored by Howard Hayes of Hoyes, Michalos & Associates Inc.
If you're having financial difficulties and live in the Cambridge area, call (519) 622-3773 today to meet with Howard Hayes or Douglas Hoyes, or complete the ask a question form to send us a message and we'll get in contact with you.
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