Financial Literacy – DEBT

Debt continues to be a major consumer issue in Canada and within our Jamat. Canadians are now carrying record high debt and the stress of dealing with unmanageable debt can be daunting for many Jamati members.

The Economic Planning Board wishes to advise the Jamat that we have engaged with an external company called Consolidated Credit Counseling Services of Canada, a national non-profit credit counseling organization that offers unbiased debt-counseling service and offers alternatives to help people get their debts under control. Alongside offering solutions to alleviate and eliminate debt, credit counselors also focus on education and understanding. Strategies include teaching basic, but vital concepts, such as how to budget, understanding credit, and how to manage money. 

In collaboration with Consolidated Credit we have set up a web based financial education centre for our Jamat, called the Budget Lounge. The website address is jamati.budgetlounge.ca a toll free # 1-844-329-3834 has also been set up for our Jamat, where they can privately and confidentially speak to a trained credit counselor of the company in English, French or Farsi. The consultation with a credit counselor to review your situation is available free of charge.

Private toll-free number for our Jamat: 1 (844) 329-3834

Hours of Operation (EST):

Mon-Thurs                  8:30am-8:00pm

Fri                                8:30am-6:00pm

Sat                               9:00am-2:00pm

Through this website the Jamat will have access to information on how to contact a credit counsellor, various tools and calculators, a variety of educational resources to help with debt management, budgeting, tips on how to save money and much more to improve the Jamat’s financial understanding.

We encourage all Jamati members including college and university students and seniors to visit the website jamati.budgetlounge.ca, http://iicanada.org/epb/finance and https://www.canada.ca/en/services/finance.html and make use of all the important information and help which is available, to make you a better money manager.