Credit-Card Debt Snaring More High-Income People

In 2007, 2.3 million people turned to the NFCC for advice – a 15 percent increase from the previous year.

But with so many advertisements sweeping through television and radio, how can consumers find a trustworthy service? One place to start is the NFCC Web site, which lists its members and their respective contact information by Zip code. Each member of this association is accredited by the Council on Accreditation, a third-party, not-for-profit organization that reviews programs’ operational standards.

Consumers can further check a service’s legitimacy by asking about its approach to their financial options, Cunningham said.

"There are bad actors in any industry, and ours is no exception," she said. "If the agency only wants to discuss a debt management program with you, you hang up the phone immediately."

Instead, the agency should be open to discussing a number of options and help the consumer strategize a method that won’t hurt his or her credit, such as budget counseling and education.

Consumers should also avoid services that charge large, up-front fees, said Rod Griffin, manager of public education at Experian. This is a direct violation of the FCC’s Credit Repair Organizations Act, which specifies that counseling services cannot take any money from a customer before completing what they promised to accomplish.

Late-night television ads promising things that sound too good to be true, like to fully relieve you of debt with no effect on your credit rating, are also a red flag, said Larry Frazen, a volunteer for the government’s Credit Abuse Resistance Education (CARE).

"Consumers need to do research before choosing a credit counselor," he said. "Check with the Better Business Bureau. Check online resources to see if there have been any complaints."

According to the NFCC, approximately 15 million adults are either receiving phone calls from collectors or are considering filing for bankruptcy. With this in mind, all income levels need to familiarize themselves with credit card debt, and its solutions, until the economic outlook improves.

As Cunningham put it: "We had a credit party, and now we’re suffering the hangover."