Certified Consumer Debt Specialist - CCDS

Everyone’s trying to make a dollar. Which is why financial associations like to invent certifications out of thin air and ensure that they can skim a few hundred bucks every year or so for the recipient to maintain that certification.

Take FINCERT, for example. The Center for Financial Certifications developed a certification that focuses on ensuring “effective delivery” of financial products to consumers. Not sure why “email” isn’t a suitable delivery vehicle, or the USPS. But hey, if you’ve got a few hundred bucks and 20 hours every two years for ongoing education, you can get the fancy title of certified consumer debt specialist. This basically means that you passed an exam and now you can help people settle their debt. Again, it’s unclear why an accountant can’t just handle it.

Before this organization existed, people had to rely on their Republican parents for knowledge about consumer debt, and to not buy that Potato Tots cooker with a high APR credit card.