HUD sponsors housing counseling agencies throughout the country to provide free or low cost advice on buying a home, renting, defaults, foreclosures, and credit issues. Search online for a housing counseling agency near you, or call HUD's interactive voice system at: (800) 569-4287. You may search more specifically for a reverse mortgage counselor or if you are facing foreclosure, search for a foreclosure avoidance counselor and access the FDIC's foreclosure prevention toolkit.

Foreclosure prevention counseling and homeless counseling services are available free of charge through HUD's Housing Counseling Program. Housing Counseling agencies participating in HUD's Housing Counseling Program are not permitted to charge consumers for these specific housing counseling services. Counseling recipients should not pay for these services. However, housing counseling agencies are permitted to charge reasonable and customary fees for other forms of housing counseling and education services, including pre-purchase, reverse mortgage, rental, and non-delinquency post-purchase counseling services, provided certain conditions are met:

• Agencies must provide counseling without charge to persons who demonstrate they cannot afford the fees;
• Agencies must inform clients of the fee structure in advance of providing services;
• Fees must be commensurate with the level of services provided.