InCharge Debt Solutions Review: Services, Costs & What to Know

Is InCharge Legitimate?

Yes. InCharge is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has operated since 1997. It's a member of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) and the Financial Counseling Association of America (FCAA), accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA), approved by HUD for housing counseling, and approved by the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees (EOUST) to issue bankruptcy counseling certificates.

Reputation check. August 2026: InCharge holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, where it has been accredited since 2002. Third-party reviewers describe customer feedback as largely positive, with some complaints about communication and account setup, consistent with what you'd expect from any large national counseling organization.

Bottom line: InCharge is a well-credentialed nonprofit with nearly three decades of operating history and accreditation from multiple independent bodies.

What Does InCharge Actually Do?

InCharge says it has helped more than one million people repay approximately $3.4 billion in debt since 1997. This is company-reported scale, not an independently audited figure.

• Free credit and debt counseling
• Debt Management Plans (DMP)
• Credit Card Debt Forgiveness (Less Than Full Balance) program, see below, a genuine settlement-style alternative to the standard DMP
• Housing counseling (foreclosure prevention, reverse mortgage counseling)
• Bankruptcy counseling (pre-filing and pre-discharge, available in English and Spanish)
• Financial education workshops through its affiliated InCharge Education Foundation (ICEF)

InCharge's Military Financial Education

InCharge has an unusually substantial military financial-education operation through its affiliated InCharge Education Foundation. Its Military Money resources address financial issues specific to service members, veterans, and military families, including deployment, VA benefits, military moves, and the Thrift Savings Plan.

This is financial education rather than a separate military debt-relief program, it doesn't change your eligibility or terms for a DMP or the debt forgiveness program below. It's a useful additional resource if you're a current or former service member.

How InCharge's DMP Works

InCharge follows the standard DMP process: free financial review, creditor negotiation, one monthly payment, and a multi-year payoff. For the general mechanics, see our Credit Counseling & DMP Guide.

What's specific to InCharge: the free counseling session runs roughly 25–40 minutes and can be done by phone or online. InCharge currently describes its DMP as typically lasting about 24–48 months, though your actual payoff period depends on your balances, creditors, and monthly payment.

InCharge's Credit Card Debt Forgiveness Program (Less Than Full Balance)

This is a genuine point of difference worth understanding on its own, separate from the standard DMP above.

InCharge offers a program it calls Credit Card Debt Forgiveness, also known as its Less Than Full Balance Program. Unlike the standard DMP, which repays 100% of your balance at a reduced interest rate, this program is a nonprofit settlement-style option: participating creditors agree in advance to accept 50–60% of what you owe, paid through fixed monthly payments over 36 months with no interest charged.

This program is specifically for accounts that are already charged off, meaning no payment has been made in roughly 120–180 days, with a minimum balance requirement (InCharge has cited $1,000). Not every creditor participates, so eligibility depends on which of your accounts qualify.

Because this program works by paying less than the full balance on already-delinquent accounts, it carries credit damage similar to debt settlement, a meaningfully different trade-off than the standard DMP. Forgiven debt may also count as taxable income, so consult a tax professional. This program is only appropriate if your accounts are already charged off; ask your counselor directly whether you qualify.

How Much Does InCharge Cost?

Fees are governed by state law and vary based on where you live. As with any agency, request your own written fee schedule before enrolling.

• Initial counseling session: Free
• DMP setup fee: InCharge cites about $52 as a typical average; other InCharge materials describe fees as usually around $50 and not exceeding $99
• DMP monthly fee: $34 average, per InCharge's own published figure
• Credit Card Debt Forgiveness program: Fixed monthly payments over 36 months, sized to your specific settlement, ask InCharge directly for your program's fee structure

What Happens to Your Credit Cards?

Enrolled credit card accounts are generally closed as part of InCharge's DMP. Closing enrolled accounts can initially affect your credit, while making consistent payments and reducing balances can help over time, there's no reliable timeline or guaranteed number of points your score will gain. For the general credit-card and credit-score mechanics that apply across all DMPs, see our Credit Counseling & DMP Guide.

How Much Can a DMP Lower Your Rates?

InCharge says its DMP can substantially reduce credit-card interest rates, but its current published materials don't all use the same average. InCharge's 2022 Annual Report reported an 8.4% average interest rate on accounts enrolled in its DMP, and some current InCharge pages continue to cite that figure. Newer InCharge marketing pages, however, advertise an average rate of approximately 7%.

Because creditor concessions vary by account, and because InCharge's own published averages aren't fully consistent with each other, we wouldn't assume either figure will apply to you. Ask your counselor for the proposed interest rate for each of your specific creditors before enrolling. These are InCharge-reported figures, not guaranteed rates.

What Debts Can InCharge Help With?

InCharge's DMP primarily addresses unsecured debt. Depending on the creditor, InCharge says a plan can potentially include credit card accounts, some loans, and medical debt. Not every creditor is required to participate, so eligibility should be confirmed during counseling. Separately, InCharge's Credit Card Debt Forgiveness program applies only to already charged-off credit card accounts meeting a minimum balance.

Complaints & Consumer Feedback

InCharge holds an A+ BBB rating and has been BBB-accredited since 2002. Like any large national financial-services organization, it has received consumer complaints. ReliefGuardian doesn't treat individual complaints as proof of a broader problem; we look for repeated themes and consider them alongside regulatory history, program disclosures, fees, credentials, and the scale of the organization.

Reputation checked: August 2026.

InCharge vs. Debt Settlement

For a full comparison of DMPs and debt settlement generally, see our DMP vs. debt settlement breakdown.

InCharge's traditional Debt Management Program is designed around repaying enrolled principal in full while seeking creditor concessions such as reduced interest rates. Its separate Credit Card Debt Forgiveness program (above) is a nonprofit alternative that functions much more like for-profit debt settlement, worth comparing directly against a settlement company if your accounts are already charged off, since InCharge's version doesn't charge interest during the 36-month payoff and comes with nonprofit oversight.

Services Offered

• Free credit and debt counseling
• Debt Management Plans (DMP)
• Credit Card Debt Forgiveness program
• Housing counseling
• Bankruptcy counseling
• Military financial education

Who InCharge Debt Solutions May Be Best For

InCharge may be worth considering if high credit-card interest is your main obstacle and you can afford a structured monthly repayment, if your accounts are already charged off and you want to compare a nonprofit-run settlement-style option against for-profit debt settlement, or if you're a current or former service member who might benefit from InCharge's military-focused financial education resources.

It may not be the best fit if in-person counseling matters most to you, given InCharge operates from a single physical location.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions to Ask Before Enrolling

1. What will my total monthly payment be?
2. What are my setup and monthly fees?
3. Which of my creditors have agreed to participate?
4. What APR will each creditor charge under the plan?
5. Which accounts will be closed?
6. How long is my estimated repayment period?
7. What happens if I miss a DMP payment?
8. Can creditors change or withdraw concessions?
9. How and when will you distribute my payments?
10. Can I cancel the plan, and what happens if I do?
11. If discussing Credit Card Debt Forgiveness specifically: Which of my charged-off accounts qualify? What percentage of my balance will I actually pay? Will any of this be reported as taxable forgiven income?

ReliefGuardian's Take

InCharge is a well-credentialed nonprofit with nearly three decades of operating history, a genuinely useful military financial education program, and, notably, two distinct paths for consumers depending on their situation: a standard full-repayment DMP, and a separate Credit Card Debt Forgiveness program that functions much more like nonprofit debt settlement for accounts that are already charged off.

One thing we'd like InCharge to make clearer is its current average DMP interest rate. Its 2022 Annual Report reported 8.4%, while current InCharge marketing pages cite averages around 7%. Your proposed creditor-by-creditor rates matter more than any companywide marketing average, so review those specifically before enrolling in either program.

We recommend comparing InCharge's proposed monthly payment, which creditors are actually participating, the published fees, and the payoff timeline against at least one other accredited agency before enrolling.

ReliefGuardian may receive compensation if you engage InCharge Debt Solutions's services through a link on this page. This does not affect our editorial assessment. See our Advertiser Disclosure.