Credit Counselor: Debt Counseling Agencies Gear Up To Serve Victims of Downsizing.(Brief Article)

With the continuous slew of layoffs in all industries due to the slowing economy, the mortgage industry may be facing a stream of defaults, delinquencies and foreclosures in the coming months that are higher than anything it has seen in years.

Credit counseling agencies across the country are just starting to see the early signs of this trend.

Eileen Muhlig, director of education and public relations with Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Central New York Inc., Syracuse, N.Y., said, "We are expecting to see an increase in counseling and actually have already seen some of it because we have had several layoffs in our area. There is a lot of short-term and long-term downsizing going on.

"There has been an recent surge in layoffs since the holidays, as well as a lot of pre-notifications of layoffs. We have been going out to those places of business and talking to employees."

The area that Consumer Credit is seeing the most significant layoffs is the manufacturing sector, according to Ms. Muhlig.

Consumer Credit is a non-profit United States Department of Housing and Urban Development certified housing counseling agency that specializes in foreclosure, default, pre-purchase and rental counseling.

Lou Warner, a senior credit advisor with Community Credit Counseling Inc.'s Kansas City, Mo. office, hasn't seen an increase in people coming in for counseling yet, but says, "we are anticipating more and more people coming in due to layoffs. There is going to be kind of a delayed reaction to these things. Typically, when somebody calls us, it is a few months after the fact that they can't manage things."