If you can't pay your bills, be sure to contact your creditors and ask them to work with you so that negative information does not get put on your credit report, where it will remain for 7 years. While there are situations in which this is a reasonable action, it should never be done casually. Filing for bankruptcy can stay on your credit record for 10 years. The stress of reduced income can take a physical, mental, emotional, and social toll, and counseling is often helpful in getting stress or depression under control. Different kinds of counseling are available from individual professional counselors and from ministers, schools, and mental health agencies and associations.
Most communities have an information and referral service, and perhaps a directory as well.
Check with your public library or the United Way. Every local Council or Department on Aging maintains an information and referral service for resources that might also be used to help individuals or families that do not include the elderly. Most phone companies include a section of community services numbers in the front or other section of their directory. Trained counselors will provide names, addresses and phone numbers of local contacts for specific problems. CARE-LINE operates from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.