119 STAT. 40
PUBLIC LAW 109–8—APR. 20, 2005 ‘‘(2) To be approved by the United States trustee (or the bankruptcy administrator, if any), a nonprofit budget and credit counseling agency shall, at a minimum— ‘‘(A) have a board of directors the majority of which— ‘‘(i) are not employed by such agency; and ‘‘(ii) will not directly or indirectly benefit financially from the outcome of the counseling services provided by such agency; ‘‘(B) if a fee is charged for counseling services, charge a reasonable fee, and provide services without regard to ability to pay the fee; ‘‘(C) provide for safekeeping and payment of client funds, including an annual audit of the trust accounts and appropriate employee bonding; ‘‘(D) provide full disclosures to a client, including funding sources, counselor qualifications, possible impact on credit reports, and any costs of such program that will be paid by such client and how such costs will be paid; ‘‘(E) provide adequate counseling with respect to a client’s credit problems that includes an analysis of such client’s current financial condition, factors that caused such financial condition, and how such client can develop a plan to respond to the problems without incurring negative amortization of debt; ‘‘(F) provide trained counselors who receive no commissions or bonuses based on the outcome of the counseling services provided by such agency, and who have adequate experience, and have been adequately trained to provide counseling services to individuals in financial difficulty, including the matters described in subparagraph (E); ‘‘(G) demonstrate adequate experience and background in providing credit counseling; and ‘‘(H) have adequate financial resources to provide continuing support services for budgeting plans over the life of any repayment plan. ‘‘(d) The United States trustee (or the bankruptcy administrator, if any) shall only approve an instructional course concerning personal financial management— ‘‘(1) for an initial probationary period under subsection (b)(3) if the course will provide at a minimum— ‘‘(A) trained personnel with adequate experience and training in providing effective instruction and services; ‘‘(B) learning materials and teaching methodologies designed to assist debtors in understanding personal financial management and that are consistent with stated objectives directly related to the goals of such instructional course; ‘‘(C) adequate facilities situated in reasonably convenient locations at which such instructional course is offered, except that such facilities may include the provision of such instructional course by telephone or through the Internet, if such instructional course is effective; ‘‘(D) the preparation and retention of reasonable records (which shall include the debtor’s bankruptcy case number) to permit evaluation of the effectiveness of such instructional course, including any evaluation of satisfaction of instructional course requirements for each debtor
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