ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solutions and CredAbility today announced they have completed their merger to form the nation’s second largest nonprofit credit counseling organization.
The combined organization, which will be called ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solutions, will have 51 offices in 16 states from California to New York. The organization’s headquarters will be in Atlanta.
ClearPoint President and CEO Chris Honenberger will be the chief executive officer for the newly joined agency, which will feature a 30-person board of directors consisting of 15 members from each organization.
The reverse mortgage counseling segment will be headed by Sue Hunt Brown, whose will be vice president in that division.
“This merger brings together two of the oldest and most trusted brands in the nonprofit credit counseling sector and enables us to offer a full array of counseling and education services to consumers nationwide,” said Honenberger. “It will also help us sever consumers more efficiently, which frees up capital to invest in new and improved client services.”
CredAbility was founded in Atlanta in 1964, while ClearPoint’s origins date back to 1971.
Over the past five years, the two agencies have counseled nearly two million households in financial distress and have helped them repay more than $1 billion in credit card debt, according to a release from the companies.
Earlier this month, CredAbility statistics showed that the agency expected to help approximately 2,000 homeowners this year, a more than 10% increase compared to 2012.
The new ClearPoint will have more than 150 credit, housing and bankruptcy counselors and financial educators available 24/7 via Internet and six days a week via telephone. The new organization also boasts one of the largest staffs of Spanish-speaking counselors and financial educators in the nation.
Written by Jason Oliva
