HUD-Approved Housing Counselors: What They Do for Free

What “HUD-Approved” Really Means

HUD is the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD approves nonprofit and government agencies to take part in its housing counseling program. The people who provide counseling through that program must be HUD-certified housing counselors.

A certified counselor has passed a HUD examination and works for a participating agency. HUD rules require counseling agencies to use trained staff, protect client records, follow conflict-of-interest rules, and provide advice based on the client’s housing need. You can read HUD’s housing counseling overview for the current service list and contact details.

The agency and the counselor are not the same thing. An agency can be HUD-approved, while an individual counselor is HUD-certified. When you search, confirm that the office appears in HUD’s current directory and that the service you need is listed.

Counseling is different from a class

One-on-one counseling looks at your own income, debts, housing costs, goals, and problem. Except for reverse mortgage counseling, it normally includes an action plan showing what you and the agency will do next. A class or workshop gives general information to a group. Some programs require a class certificate, but a class may not solve a personal repair or mortgage problem.

Which Counseling Services Are Free?

Federal rules allow participating agencies to charge reasonable and customary fees for some counseling and education. The agency must disclose its fee structure in advance. It cannot charge for basic client intake, and it must provide counseling without charge when the client cannot afford the fee. The current rule is in 24 CFR 214.313.

There is no single nationwide dollar amount for a counseling fee. Fees vary by agency and service. Do not assume a service is free just because the agency is HUD-approved. Also do not stay away because a website lists a fee. Call and say clearly that the cost would be a hardship.

How a Counselor Can Help With Home Repairs

HUD includes home improvement and rehabilitation counseling among approved housing counseling services. A counselor may also provide referrals to local, state, and federal resources. The exact help depends on the agency’s work plan, staff, service area, and current funding.

Find the right local repair office

A counselor may know which city, county, state housing agency, Community Action Agency, nonprofit, or lender serves your address. Local repair help may be called emergency repair, owner-occupied rehabilitation, housing rehabilitation, accessibility modification, weatherization, minor home repair, code correction, or aging-in-place help.

The counselor may help you sort out whether a local option is a grant, loan, deferred loan, forgivable loan, rebate, weatherization service, or volunteer repair service. For a broader search process, use our guide to finding local repair programs.

Review the household budget before borrowing

A counselor can review income, regular bills, debts, mortgage costs, taxes, insurance, and the proposed repair payment. This does not make a loan safe by itself. It can show whether the payment leaves enough money for food, utilities, medicine, transportation, and future home costs.

If a contractor offers financing, ask the counselor to help you identify the interest rate, annual percentage rate, fees, total repayment, monthly payment, lien or security interest, prepayment rules, and what happens after a missed payment. Read our safer repair financing guide before signing.

Explain HUD-backed repair loan choices

A counselor may explain federal loan paths such as FHA 203(k) rehabilitation financing or Title I property improvement loans and help you decide what questions to ask a lender. These are loans, not grants. Approval, rates, fees, property rules, credit review, and repayment come through lenders and program rules. HUD’s home improvement page lists federal financing and local program starting points.

A counselor cannot approve the loan, set the lender’s rate, guarantee the contractor’s work, or promise that financing is affordable for you. For local grant and deferred-loan programs funded through city or county housing offices, see our guide to CDBG and HOME repair programs.

Help when repair costs threaten the mortgage

Call quickly if repair bills, taxes, insurance, medical costs, or lost income are making the mortgage hard to pay. Foreclosure counseling is free. A counselor may help you organize a loss-mitigation application, understand options offered by the servicer, and communicate with the mortgage company. The counselor cannot guarantee a modification or stop a foreclosure by themselves.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s mortgage help page explains how to contact a counselor and your servicer. If you have received court papers, a sale date, or a legal notice, also contact a lawyer or legal aid right away. Counseling is not legal representation.

Discuss reverse mortgages without a sales pitch

A Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, or HECM, is a federally insured reverse mortgage for eligible older homeowners. HECM counseling is required before the loan can move forward. Counseling may help explain costs, repayment events, taxes, insurance, maintenance duties, effects on other household members, and alternatives.

A reverse mortgage is a loan secured by the home, not repair grant money. The balance usually grows over time. The CFPB explains that a reasonable counseling fee may apply but cannot be charged when the borrower cannot afford it. Review reverse mortgage costs before making a decision.

Get disaster and scam-related guidance

HUD says disaster counseling is available through its housing counseling line. Call 1-800-569-4287 and press 5 for disaster counseling help. A counselor may help you organize recovery steps, understand mortgage options after a disaster, and find local resources. The counselor does not replace FEMA, an insurer, the Small Business Administration, or a local rebuilding program.

A counselor can also help you examine a suspicious mortgage or repair-financing offer. For more checks, use our guide to verify a repair program.

How to Find and Verify a Counselor

If no nearby office offers the right service, check HUD’s national agency directory. National and statewide organizations may serve rural or remote households by phone or online. You can also start with our guide on where to start for repair help.

What to Gather Before the Appointment

You do not need every paper before making the first call. Start the appointment process, then ask what the counselor needs. For a repair and mortgage problem, the following items may help:

• A short description of the repair, when it started, and whether it is an immediate safety problem.
• Photos, inspection notices, code letters, insurance letters, or written contractor estimates.
• Your most recent mortgage statement, property tax bill, homeowners insurance bill, and homeowners association statement, if any.
• Recent pay stubs, benefit letters, pension information, tax returns, or other proof of household income.
• Recent bank statements and a list of monthly bills, debts, medications, utilities, and other necessary costs.
• Any loan offer, contractor financing agreement, reverse mortgage proposal, notice of default, foreclosure letter, or court paper.
• Information about title or ownership problems, such as an inherited home, deceased owner, land contract, or missing deed.
• A list of programs you already called and what each office told you.

Do not email Social Security numbers, bank statements, tax returns, or identification to an unverified address. Confirm the agency and ask how it securely receives documents.

What happens during counseling

The counselor will ask about your housing goal and your financial situation. For most one-on-one counseling, the agency should complete intake, review housing affordability, discuss choices, create an action plan, and make a reasonable effort to follow up. Federal rules also require participating agencies to provide referrals to local, state, and federal resources. The core counseling requirements appear in 24 CFR 214.300.

Your action plan may tell you to call a city repair office, ask a lender for a complete written loan estimate, send documents to the mortgage servicer, request a fee waiver, contact legal aid, or apply to a separate program. Keep a copy. Write down deadlines, contact names, and confirmation numbers.

For help preparing a real repair application, see our repair application guide.

Your Rights as a Counseling Client

You may ask for a fee waiver

If a fee would create a financial hardship, say so. HUD rules require agencies that charge fees to counsel clients without charge when they cannot afford the fee. Ask what information the agency uses for a waiver. Do not assume that being above a local repair program’s income limit means you can afford counseling.

You do not have to buy the agency’s products

A participating agency cannot make counseling depend on using a lender, real estate professional, contractor, class, loan, or other product offered by the agency, an affiliate, or a partner. The agency must disclose financial relationships and provide information about alternatives. These protections are part of the HUD program’s performance rules.

You may request language and disability access

HUD says its housing counseling line can help callers in many languages. Agencies must address language needs by using qualified staff, an interpreter, or a referral. Participating agencies must also provide disability access and reasonable accommodations. Ask for large print, an interpreter, relay access, telephone or online service, an accessible meeting place, or another needed accommodation.

Your financial information must be protected

Counseling files may contain income, debt, mortgage, credit, and household information. HUD rules require agencies to keep client records confidential. Ask how documents will be stored and who will receive them. Read any authorization before allowing the agency to speak with a lender, servicer, landlord, or another organization.

You should receive independent guidance

The counselor should explain realistic options and limits, not pressure you into one lender, contractor, reverse mortgage, or debt product. A counselor may discuss services offered by the same organization, but you are not required to use them.

If You Are Delayed, Turned Away, or Treated Unfairly

An agency may have a waitlist, may serve only certain counties, or may not offer the service you need. Ask for a referral to another HUD-participating agency. Federal rules say an agency that cannot provide the requested service should make a reasonable referral effort.

If the first office does not help, call HUD’s housing counseling line again and ask for another agency. National agencies may be able to counsel by phone. If a repair program denied you, counseling may help you understand the financial issue, but the counselor usually cannot overturn another program’s decision. Use our repair denial guide for next steps.

When you may need legal aid

Contact legal aid or a lawyer when you have a foreclosure sale date, lawsuit, eviction case, contractor lien, deed problem, suspected fraud, bankruptcy question, probate or inheritance issue, or a dispute about legal rights. The Legal Services Corporation finder locates nonprofit civil legal aid offices. A counselor can help with housing planning, but cannot replace legal advice or court representation.

When to report discrimination

A housing counselor may help you understand how to report housing discrimination. You may also contact HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. HUD accepts reports online and lists 1-800-669-9777 for phone reports. Use HUD’s discrimination complaint page promptly because filing time limits may apply.

How to raise a concern about the counseling agency

First ask for the counselor’s supervisor or the agency’s program manager. State the problem clearly and ask for the fee policy, disclosure, referral, action plan, or other record involved. If the concern is not resolved, contact HUD’s Office of Housing Counseling at housing.counseling@hud.gov or call 1-800-569-4287.

A Simple Action Plan