“CRCS Report Shows the NFCC is Misleading the Public about its Nonprofit Executive Salaries”
CRCS
August 2, 2004

The findings of an 80-page report recently released by the national advocacy group Consumers for Responsible Credit Solutions (CRCS) raise questions about the public claims of some of the nation’s most visible credit counseling agencies.

Based on recent data, the report found that former National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) President Durant Abernethy received almost $400,000 in compensation in 2002 alone. And at a Texas-based NFCC affiliate, Money Management International, the nonprofit’s top four executives received a total of nearly $1 million in compensation, lead by former Exxon executive Ivan Hand, who received over $300,000 in compensation as the NFCC’s affiliate’s president in 2002.

One explanation for wide discrepancy between the NFCC’s low salary claim and reality may lie in that the NFCC divides itself into 130 member agencies and over 1000 branch offices, while many of its competitors are centralized. This allows the NFCC to calculate lower “average” salaries for its local “executives” and compare that to its more centralized competitors, avoiding direct top executive to top executive comparisons.

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