With the new bankruptcy law going into effect, I think there will be some serious credit counseling needed by quite a few people. I know it's a personal thing, but has anyone heard of a credit counseling or credit consolidation businesses that have actually worked or do they usually try to get people into a loan? I wonder if they charge high fees to help people out of debt, seems counter productive if they do! Also, I wonder if this credit counseling business reports to the credit agency, I have heard that they do and that might give another red flag or ding on a credit report.

I work with people all of the time on credit issues but haven't heard first hand about these companies and am curious if anyone has heard of a successful credit repair? Credit is so crucial in today's credit happy world - a low FICO score can make or break someone.

I think high school should have mandatory classes on teaching kids about using credit wisely.

I wish that kids would get training on real world issues like paying cash and saving money, never making late payments etc, not only from parents but over and over in high school credit counseling classes -before they actually get into a bind with credit.

My kids see me whip out the ATM constantly - I have tried repeatedly to teach them that I'm not using a credit card - that the money is coming out of the bank account directly and I don't have to pay interest ( a bad, bad word) ... I hope it sticks in their minds!