Advantage Credit Counseling Expanding Free Budgeting Tool

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Advantage Credit Counseling is offering a completely free Online Budget Advisor tool in order to assist consumers everywhere with creating a manageable budget.

The Online Budget Advisor allows consumers to go through a user-friendly process that can offer advice about budget areas that may need improvement. Life events that could result in a need for more financial resources are covered in the budgeting process, and consumers who are dealing with an upcoming wedding or planning to have children in the near future can see how their finances will be affected. The financial effects of divorce, moving from renting to owning a home and the loss of a job are also outlined.

Advantage Credit Counseling announced that new features will be added to the Online Budget Advisor throughout 2013 in order to make the tool more useful for the average consumer. A goal tracking feature will let consumers set financial goals such as buying a home, saving for retirement or being able to contribute to paying for college costs for their children. Bank of America gave Advantage Credit Counseling a $12,500 grant for updating the budgeting system and adding a goal tracking tool.

Not only does the Online Budget Advisor offer the ability to set goals and explore budgeting options based on different scenarios that are chosen by the consumer, but the budgeting tool also results in a 20-page printout that gives the consumer advice based on their unique inputs. Consumers can learn how to cut down on extras or pay down debt in order to regain financial independence.

The results of the Online Budget Advisor tool are completely confidential, and no information that is input as part of the budgeting process will be shared with anyone.

The Online Budget Advisor has had a successful year with nearly 16,000 visitors in 2012, and Advantage Credit Counseling expects to see an uptrend in visits as new features are added to the budgeting tool. External companies have started linking to the tool to help their customers learn how to budget accordingly in order to meet obligations such as utility payments. One example of an external link is a reference to the budgeting tool by Peoples Natural Gas.

About Advantage Credit Counseling Service
Since 1968, Advantage Credit Counseling Service, Inc. (ACCS) has been educating and counseling consumers about budgeting, personal financial management and the responsible use of credit. ACCS's services help to financially empower individuals, bettering their lives; increasing family stability; improving workplace performance; and ultimately benefiting the entire community. Advantage CCS has six locations in Western and Central Pennsylvania, and offers financial education workshops, credit counseling, housing counseling, and bankruptcy counseling in numerous other states. For more information on additional services, class schedules, and States serviced please visit www.advantageccs.org or call 1-866-699-2227.
Advantage Credit Counseling Service, Inc. is an accredited member of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) and a member in good standing of the Better Business Bureau.

Consumers can contact Advantage Credit Counseling Service online at http://www.advantageccs.org/contactus.html or by telephone at 1-866-699-2227.