"It was a lot of fun," Henry says. But the debts that followed weren’t.

In the two previous years, he ran up $26,000 in credit card bills. Even though Henry is vice president of a marketing company, his income couldn’t keep pace with his debt. His once-pristine credit rating was becoming besmirched.

After hearing an advertisement on the radio, the Seal Beach man decided to contact a so-called credit repair firm. About $1,200 in fees later, he learned from experience what the Federal Trade Commission has been warning consumers about for the last several years: Most credit repair firms make promises they can’t keep.

Despite their heavily advertised assurances and the sometimes monstrous fees they charge, these firms can’t get you out of debt. They can’t permanently erase accurate negative items from your credit report. A few of these companies, in a desperate effort to "fix" the unfixable, have persuaded clients to break the law by creating new identities, complete with fake Social Security numbers.

The FTC, which polices false advertising claims, is continuing in a massive crackdown designed to put shady operators out of business. However, at a time when personal bankruptcies are hitting all-time highs, it is worth noting that Henry did eventually find help to get him out of debt. And the help was free.

Henry contacted a nonprofit organization, the Consumer Credit Counseling Service. His counselor put him on a budget, got his creditors to stop accruing interest on his debts, and worked out a two-year payment plan that Henry could live with.

CCCS, which is affiliated with the National Foundation for Consumer Credit in Washington, D.C., is the oldest and largest nonprofit organization dedicated solely to budget counseling, money management and homeowner advice.

The service is not for everybody. But for people like Henry, who are in desperate need of budget help, the organization can be a godsend.

The average CCCS client earns $26,708 and has consumer debt (that is, excluding mortgages) of $20,252. Whereas most experts say an unsecured debt-to-income ratio as high as 20% indicates a consumer is heading into trouble, CCCS clients have an average debt-to-income ratio of 76%.

The National Foundation for Consumer Credit was founded in 1951. Since then, it has opened 1,450 offices nationwide, generally under the Consumer Credit Counseling Service banner. Some for-profit companies use similar-sounding names, but all legitimate CCCS offices bear an NFCC logo, which indicates that the group’s budget counselors are trained, the agency is accredited and that the office follows certain national rules and standards.

CCCS services are provided for free or for a nominal charge to the consumer. But its counselors are not volunteers. CCCS is supported mainly by creditors that recognize the bulk of the group’s clients have only two options: Pay off their bills with help from creditors in the form of reduced interest or principal payments; or file for bankruptcy.

In general, when the CCCS works out a payment plan, it collects payments from the consumer, then forwards the money to creditors. However, a number of creditors--usually everyone except the Internal Revenue Service, student and small-business loan companies and medical facilities--will pay a commission to CCCS that ranges from 10% to 12% of the payment. CCCS uses that money to pay its counselors and overhead.

A few CCCS offices will charge consumers a modest fee--from $10 to $50--for budget counseling. That’s also aimed at defraying their costs.

Does getting paid by creditors affect the advice they give?

"It really doesn’t," says Gary Stroth, executive director of the CCCS office in Los Angeles. "Our counselors are working with the individuals. If [the counselors] call a creditor, it’s usually to get a concession for a payment plan."

Stroth and others acknowledge that CCCS will never advise anyone to file for bankruptcy. That, Stroth says, would be legal advice, something the organization doesn’t provide. About 7% of those who seek CCCS help are encouraged to get legal advice. Generally that’s because their financial straits are so dire that there would be no way to correct the situation through simple budgeting, Stroth says.

The cooperative arrangement between CCCS and creditors is largely advantageous to consumers. Often when consumers work independently to resolve credit problems, their creditors are reluctant to help them out because Bank A may worry that any concession it provides would benefit a competing bank by making the consumer better able to pay Bank B’s debts.

Since CCCS works out a plan that treats all creditors equitably, creditors are not pitted against one another.

"Banks trust the advice that’s given by CCCS, and they know that consumers who have gone there are adequately counseled about a realistic form of debt repayment that is both acceptable to the banks and practical for the consumer," says John Stafford, a spokesman for the California Bankers Assn.

The "concessions" from creditors vary. In Henry’s case, his creditors agreed to stop charging interest on his debts. Since most of his credit card debt was accruing interest at an 18% rate, he was paying nearly $400 a month in interest charges alone. That made it virtually impossible for him to reduce the principal balances.

In other cases, creditors may reduce the principal balance; or, if the consumers’ woes are less severe, they may simply stop aggressive collection efforts. However, concessions are not won by all.

About one-third of CCCS clients don’t need concessions. They can afford to pay off their debts on their own, CCCS counselors say. In these cases, CCCS will help with budgeting and send them on their way.

About 27% of service clients need to do something--either reduce expenses or resolve personal issues, such as the overspending of a spouse, or find a way to increase their income--before working out a payment plan.

What the organization does not do is make loans or give investment or legal advice. It also won’t repair your credit, although it will tell you how to go about it yourself.

"We do counseling on personal finances--that’s all," Stroth says. ’Hopefully, each person that comes in will be able to prepare a budget or spending plan. Every person ought to walk out with an action plan."

CCCS provides lists of public and private agencies that can help solve problems that stymie the budget counselors, such as finding emergency food, shelter or medical help, or resolving rent and child support collection disputes.

The organization has a Web page at http://www.nfcc.org and a national hotline ([800] 388-2227) that will hook consumers up with their local CCCS office.