If you are buried neck-deep in debt, what would you need? Credit counseling. Credit counseling involves educating people on how to avoid incurring debts they cannot repay. At the same time, it also entails mediating between creditors and debtors to iron out repayment arrangements, otherwise known as a debt management plan or DMP. While credit has been around for many years, credit counseling is a relatively new concept. In fact, the very first credit counseling agencies were not established in the United States until 1951. In recent years, however, credit counseling has been surrounded with much controversy. Many expressed criticisms that more often than not, credit counselors side with creditors and take their interests over that of consumers. This section contains materials that relate to credit counseling.