Michigan company takes in Consumer Credit Counseling Service of South Texas
Mike D. Smith/The Caller (Corpus Christi, TX)
3 June 2011

CORPUS CHRISTI — A local credit counseling business' merger with a larger national group will eliminate a handful of jobs but will expand services available to potential customers.

Within the next few weeks, Consumer Credit Counseling Service of South Texas will be absorbed into Michigan-based GreenPath Debt Solutions.

South Texas is GreenPath's second reach into the Texas market. The company acquired the North Central Texas service area last year, GreenPath spokesman Andrew Johnson said.

Johnson said the larger company can provide more community education services.

The merger also makes it possible for customers to enter debt management programs to resolve additional types of debt including mortgages and student loans, said Melissa Goonan, Consumer Credit's director of education and community information.

The merger cuts nine jobs across the region. The changes close the one-person Victoria office, with customers there being sent to Corpus Christi. Offices in Brownsville, Harlingen and McAllen will remain open.

"It all comes down to basically streamlining, especially when it comes to support staff, unfortunately," Goonan said.

As a nonprofit service, Consumer Credit's operations largely are funded through a mix of grants, donations from creditors and client fees.

Across the South Texas service area — which spreads from Victoria to the Rio Grande Valley — Consumer Credit paid more than $8.6 million to creditors on behalf of clients last year, down from more than $10.6 million in 2008, records show.

The organization handled 3,849 new clients in 2010, down from 4,706 the year before, though the number of return clients increased during that time period, records show.

"It's ironic because when the economy does really bad, an agency like this usually prospers," Goonan said.

Locally, the Corpus Christi office's decline may be tied to more people filing bankruptcy, credit counselor Gail Sapenter said.

Bankruptcy allows someone to possibly cancel debts instead of paying them off through a debt management program, Goonan said.