If you have been researching your debt relief options for your debt, then you have likely stumbled upon quite a lot of articles that explore consumer credit counseling and debt management plans. The exact dynamics of the relationship between credit counseling services and debt management programs may be confusing. This is due to the two phrases regularly are most often used interchangeably, so much in fact that it gives the impression that they may be one in the same. They are definitely not the exact same. There are actually businesses called credit counseling agencies, at times known simply as “credit counseling”. As you may suspect, these companies provide financial counseling to consumers. In addition to this counseling, they provide a debt help plan for consumer debt that offers a number of benefits, the most prominent of which is lowered interest rates. This plan is known as a debt management plan (DMP), occasionally referred to simply as “debt management”, and consumers must endure a financial evaluation and meet particular requirements in order to be eligible for the plan. So debt management programs and credit counseling are certainly not identical or interchangeable, but they are closely related. It should also be noted that apart from credit counseling agencies, individuals can also enroll in Dmp’s via other types of debt solution providers.