Credit Counseling of Arkansas Inc.

Mike Robards said it takes hard work and, especially, heart to make Credit Counseling of Arkansas Inc. of Fayetteville successful.

Robards, the executive director of CCOA, said the organization provides a variety of consulting services that include debt management, financial education and credit counseling. The individuals and families that CCOA counselors work with are often at the end of their financial rope.

“We’re in the business of helping people save their homes,” Robards said. “They’re looking for a resource they can trust.”

Robards said CCOA, with an annual budget of about $1.2 million, operates on funds from various grants and gifts. The federal government provides a portion of the budget, and Robards said creditors help CCOA because the organization helps clients salvage accounts that creditors would otherwise have to write off.

Most of the services CCOA and its 19 full- and part-time employees provide are free, including financial seminars and counseling sessions. In the last year, Robards said, the nonprofit has held more than 850 financial seminars attracting nearly 30,000 attendees (some people attend more than one) and has provided more than 3,000 one-on-one counseling sessions.

“Our budget is tight,” he said. “You just work to be as efficient as you can.”

A big misconception, Robards said, is that people in financial straits have arrived there through some incompetence or irresponsibility. “We help people move from financial crisis to financial freedom,” Robards said. “Most of the folks we see are not because of misuse of funds. It’s because of a job loss or a death or because of medical bills.”

“The rewarding part of the job is how people say we changed their lives,” he said. “All that makes it rewarding, to be sure. It is a life change for these folks.”