Financial Management

Counseling covers 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 (being behind on mortgage payments or facing potential foreclosure). The National Foundation for Credit Counseling can also help you develop a debt-management plan for free. Should you choose to enter into an arrangement with NFCC to manage a debt-management plan on a long-term basis, a nominal monthly fee may apply.

The sessions are available for free to active duty, Guard and reserve members (regardless of activation status), and families located in CONUS. Up to 12 counseling sessions per issue, per calendar year, are allowed for each person.

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.

Contact Military OneSource at 800-342-9647 and ask for it. You must go through Military OneSource in order to access the sessions for free.

Military OneSource offers telephonic counseling with certified financial planners who 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.

Financial counseling can assist with basic money management. Financial planning (telephonic counseling with certified financial planners) can help with reviewing savings plans, investing plans, 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.

For those unable to attend in-person counseling or are in locations where in-person counseling is not available, Military OneSource will provide telephonic counseling.

In-person financial counseling is available in most locations through Military OneSource, in partnership with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. NFCC, a nonprofit 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 for free. 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.

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.

Please visit the National Foundation for Credit Counseling website. Enter your ZIP code in the search engine to find the local agencies in your area. Please contact those local agencies for employment opportunities.

No. The internal financial counselors and National Foundation for Credit Counseling counselors do not sell or promote products or agendas. NFCC is a national, nonprofit 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 monthly fee for this service.