{"id":46554,"date":"2016-03-31T13:04:49","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T17:04:49","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-02-13T10:56:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T15:56:18","slug":"what-are-credit-counsellors-or-debt-settlement-companies-required-do","status":"publish","type":"publications-page","link":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-are-credit-counsellors-or-debt-settlement-companies-required-do","title":{"rendered":"What are credit counsellors or debt settlement companies required to do?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you make an agreement with a credit counsellor or debt settlement company, they must:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>give you a copy of any debt settlement agreement when you sign it<\/li>\n<li>tell you in the agreement how their organization is funded, for example, by charging fees to clients or through charitable donations<\/li>\n<li>contact your creditors within 15 days after you give them permission to negotiate your debt<\/li>\n<li>tell you within 15 days if a creditor refuses to negotiate a payment schedule or a one-time payment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-46554","publications-page","type-publications-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What are credit counsellors or debt settlement companies required to do? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-are-credit-counsellors-or-debt-settlement-companies-required-do\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What are credit counsellors or debt settlement companies required to do? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you make an agreement with a credit counsellor or debt settlement company, they must: give you a copy of any debt settlement agreement when you sign it tell you in the agreement how their organization is funded, for example, by charging fees to clients or through charitable donations contact your creditors within 15 days after you give them permission to negotiate your debt tell you within 15 days if a creditor refuses to negotiate a payment schedule or a one-time payment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-are-credit-counsellors-or-debt-settlement-companies-required-do\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-13T15:56:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-are-credit-counsellors-or-debt-settlement-companies-required-do\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-are-credit-counsellors-or-debt-settlement-companies-required-do\",\"name\":\"What are credit counsellors or debt settlement companies required to do? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-31T17:04:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-13T15:56:18+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-are-credit-counsellors-or-debt-settlement-companies-required-do#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-are-credit-counsellors-or-debt-settlement-companies-required-do\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-are-credit-counsellors-or-debt-settlement-companies-required-do#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Publication pages\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"What are credit counsellors or debt settlement companies required to do?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/\",\"name\":\"CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What are credit counsellors or debt settlement companies required to do? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-are-credit-counsellors-or-debt-settlement-companies-required-do","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What are credit counsellors or debt settlement companies required to do? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","og_description":"If you make an agreement with a credit counsellor or debt settlement company, they must: give you a copy of any debt settlement agreement when you sign it tell you in the agreement how their organization is funded, for example, by charging fees to clients or through charitable donations contact your creditors within 15 days after you give them permission to negotiate your debt tell you within 15 days if a creditor refuses to negotiate a payment schedule or a one-time payment","og_url":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-are-credit-counsellors-or-debt-settlement-companies-required-do","og_site_name":"CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","article_modified_time":"2026-02-13T15:56:18+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-are-credit-counsellors-or-debt-settlement-companies-required-do","url":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-are-credit-counsellors-or-debt-settlement-companies-required-do","name":"What are credit counsellors or debt settlement companies required to do? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-03-31T17:04:49+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-13T15:56:18+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-are-credit-counsellors-or-debt-settlement-companies-required-do#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-are-credit-counsellors-or-debt-settlement-companies-required-do"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-are-credit-counsellors-or-debt-settlement-companies-required-do#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Publication pages","item":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"What are credit counsellors or debt settlement companies required to do?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/","name":"CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications-page\/46554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications-page"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/publications-page"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications-page\/46554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64000,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications-page\/46554\/revisions\/64000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}