Financial Counseling - Category Questions
Q: How can I become a financial counselor for Military OneSource?
A:
Please visit the NFCC Web site at http://www.nfcc.org/. Enter your zip code in the search engine to find the local agencies in your area. Please contact those local agencies for employment opportunities.
Q: Do the financial counselors push products or personal agendas?
A:
No, The internal Financial Counselors and NFCC counselors do not sell or promote products or agendas. NFCC is a national, non-profit organization that does not sell or promote products. The only cost you may incur is if you decide to personally hire a local NFCC agency to manage your debt-management plan as part of a long-term arrangement. There is a nominal administrative monthly fee for this service.
Q: Is financial counseling available to assist in determining the best options for saving money for college education of dependent children?
A:
Military OneSource offers telephonic counseling where Certified Financial Planners will help you review your options. While they can’t tell you which plan is the best fit for your personal situation, they will educate you on the types of plans available, describing the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Q: Is financial counseling available to review money-management and savings plans already in place?
A:
Financial counseling can assist with basic money management. Financial planning (telephonic counseling with Certified Financial Planners) can help with reviewing savings plans, investing plans, and provide information on stocks, bonds, and retirement plans. Financial planners can help inform you about the advantages and disadvantages of different savings plans and methods but they won’t provide advice or recommend one over the other.
Q: What types of services are provided through financial counseling?
A:
Counseling on financial issues such as basic budgeting, money management, debt consolidation (including coaching to help people contact their creditors and negotiate late fees, interest rates, and affordable payment plans), and assistance with housing issues (behind on mortgage payments, potential foreclosure). NFCC can also help you develop a debt-management plan at no cost. Should you choose to enter into an arrangement with NFCC to manage a debt-management plan on long-term basis, a monthly, nominal fee may apply.
Q: What if I live overseas or if in-person financial counseling isn’t available in my area?
A:
For those unable to attend in-person counseling or in locations where in-person counseling is not available, Military OneSource will provide telephonic counseling.
Q: Who provides the financial counseling sessions (in-person and over the phone)?
A:
In-person financial counseling is now available in most locations through Military OneSource, in partnership with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC)*. NFCC, a non-profit national agency, provides financial education and counseling services at hundreds of local offices nationwide. Military OneSource must arrange for you to meet face-to-face with a financial consultant in your community in order for you to receive the service at no cost.
Telephonic financial counseling is provided by the financial management team located within the Military OneSource call centers. This team is made up of highly qualified AFC Certified Financial Counselors.
*NFCC does not provide coverage throughout the entire continental U.S. Providers are made up of local consumer credit agencies that must pass a certification exam in order to participate in this program.
Q: How do I arrange for financial counseling?
A:
It’s simple! Call Military OneSource at 1-800-342-9647 and ask for it. You must go through Military OneSource in order to access the sessions at no cost.
Q: Who is eligible?
A:
The sessions are available at no cost to active-duty, Guard, and Reserve members (regardless of activation status) and families located in the continental U.S. Up to 12 counseling sessions per issue, per calendar year are allowed for each person.
Q: What is short-term, solution-focused financial counseling?
A:
The goal of short-term, solution-focused counseling is to help individuals change by creating solutions rather than dwelling on problems. Using this same strategy, short-term, solution-focused financial counseling helps people identify the issues and then work to identify realistic resolutions. Our financial-counseling goal is to provide the most effective counseling in the most efficient way possible so that service members and families can get on with focusing on the mission and living their lives.
Sometimes a debt-management plan is a possible solution. It isn’t always the only solution.