Credit Counseling And Consumer Bankruptcy For Low Income Clients

Author : Linda Michelle Vallade
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 158 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (833 download)

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Download or read book The Behavioral Effectiveness of Consumer Credit Counseling Service on Past Clients in Linn-Benton County, Oregon written by Linda Michelle Vallade and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The effectiveness of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) program on past clients' current money and credit management was researched in this study. The researcher investigated whether the experience of consumer credit counseling had any behavorial impact on past clients' current credit practices. A sample of 104 clients who lived in toll-free Linn-Benton County was selected from the closed CCCS files. These clients were individuals and families who had sought and obtained counseling and terminated the counseling program between 1974 and 1979. A letter was sent to the 104 clients explaining the study and indicating that the researcher would contact them by phone to administer the questionnaire. Fifty clients participated in the study. Of the remaining 54 clients, 49 could not be contacted or had moved from the Linn-Benton County area, and five declined for personal reasons. The completion rate of persons able to be contacted was 90 percent. Background information on the 50 clients was obtained from the CCCS application files. Before participation in the CCCS program, the 50 clients had a mean age of 31 years; the mean number of dependent children was 1.7; 29 clients were married, five were separated, 14 were divorced, and two were single; 28 percent of the clients were employed in white collar occupations and 72 percent were employed in blue collar occupations; the mean income was $7,336; the mean amount of savings was $2.20; the mean amount of debt was $4,290.98; the mean income to debt ratio was 3.15; the mean number of creditors was 11.36; and the mean number of credit cards used was 2.38. The mean time span since the clients left the CCCS program was three years. Of the 50 clients in the study, 29 terminated the program by self-administration, 20 clients were drop outs, and one client declared bankruptcy. At the time of the interview, February 1980, the clients had a mean age of 34 years; mean number of dependent children was 1. 8; 31 clients were married, one was separated, 15 were divorced, and three were single; 32 percent of the clients were employed in white collar occupations and 68 percent were employed in blue collar occupations; the mean income was $15,290; the mean amount of savings was $412.98; the mean amount of debt was $2,633.80; the mean income to debt ratio was 21.83; the mean number of creditors was 2.58; and the mean number of credit cards used was 1.02. There was a significant change in the number of credit cards used, number of creditors owed, the amount of debt owed, and the amount of savings acquired when a t-test was applied at the .05 significance level. There was no association between change in number of credit cards used, change in creditors owed, change in amount of savings, change in amount of debt, and type of termination (drop outs or self-administered) and length of time since termination when a t-test or analysis of variance (F-test) was applied at the .05 significance level. The clients in the study did tend to change their credit and financial practices after participation in the CCCS program. The 50 clients (100 percent) reported the CCCS program as very helpful in assisting them with financial difficulties. This researcher concluded that the CCCS program did have an behavorial impact on clients' current credit and financial practices.