School is in for financially troubled homeowners and others who don't know the difference between a budget and a savings account, a default and a foreclosure or a credit report and a credit score.

The Council of Better Business Bureaus recently began offering what amounts to an online short course in curing what's financially ailing hundreds of thousands of homeowners.

Much like an online correspondence course, a new series of BBBTips is just what the doctor ordered for consumers struggling to hold onto their homes and credit or others who don't want to keep up with the Joneses.

Sponsored by ClearPoint Financial Solutions, the lessons are a refreshing upgrade from the purloined out-of-context content or canned "evergreen" realty content too often found on many websites.

Real estate content is rarely relevant as a learning and living tool unless it addresses current issues in the volatile real estate market, a real school of hard knocks that can go bust as quickly as it booms.

Recent studies reveal many consumers just don't get it when it comes to home financing, general financing and credit basics, the real estate transaction and a host of related topics.

Ignorance, sometimes perpetuated by out-of-date disclosures and limited information from the industry, is a leading cause of consumer discontent and a growing shroud of mistrust permeating the market.

BBBTips, presented in no-nonsense, straight talk, recently released the imminently relevant "BBBTips for Troubled Homeowners" which explains why so many homeowners have found themselves in deep water, what financially troubled homeowner should do when facing the first or subsequent late payments (don't be an Ostrich) and how, while you are most vulnerable, to avoid making the wrong decisions about getting out of trouble.

"Whether you are a couple of months behind in your mortgage payment or a couple of weeks behind, there are positive steps you can take to protect the value of your investment," said Steve Cole, president and CEO of the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

Cole says numerous home owners can get through hard times if they don't consider their situation hopeless or fall for get-out-of-debt-quick schemes. Indebtedness typically doesn't happen over night. Neither will the cure.

"BBBs are assisting with an increasing number of complaints about foreclosure 'rescue' businesses that promise homeowners a fail-safe solution. Victims report unknowingly signing over the deed to their house; having to pay rent to live in their own home; or confronting a buy-back deal that exceeds the value of their home," Cole said.

Other just as timely and useful BBBTips include:

• Choosing a Credit Counseling Agency -- For those in debt over their wallets, credit counseling can help you sleep at night. Advisers can help you learn to use credit wisely, establish a budget, or arrange a repayment plan with creditors, for starters. However, if you need to know how to choose a counselor or how to understand debt management plans, this report is for you.

• Understanding your Credit Report -- Your credit report is a sort of financial report card on your credit behavior and it is used to generate a credit score -- a numerical value placed on your creditworthiness. It contains other data than can make or break your application for credit or cost your more for credit and you have a right to see it all. This report tells you how to get your credit report and what to do with it once you do.

• Consumers Considering Bankruptcy -- Financial distress that becomes chronic can lead to bankruptcy -- relief from most or all of your debts. But bankruptcy can be costly relief that ruins your credit standing and prevents you from buying a home for years. This report explains the new bankruptcy law, types of bankruptcy, alternatives to chucking it all, and how to file, should it come to that.

• How to Develop a Working Budget -- If you don't know where your money goes you won't know where you can cut back, but that's not all. A budget not only helps you save money, but also develop sound spending habits, set and achieve financial goals, increase your income and work on other financial issues. This report is largely a printable form that allows you to get started right away listing your income and expenses in preparation for your financial nip and tuck.

Other lessons include, "How to Repay Your Debt" and "Tips on Credit Cards," which, like the other files, don't force you to download PDF files. With no Web file fumbling, one click access grants an immediate start right there on the Web page to getting your financial house in order.

In the best use of plain vanilla Web page design, the BBBTips Web pages are clear, uncluttered and without distracting pop-ups or other advertisements, save BBBs own.

In most cases, each of the current seven lessons, is a four-page read allowing you to complete the course in a week, reading a story a day and taking time to follow the links.

The working budget may take an extra effort and time to set up, due to the printable form necessary to complete if you expect to benefit from the lesson.

BBBTips doesn't cover every angle of today's real estate market. A lesson on the mortgage process is conspicuously missing. Consumers also wrangle with insurance issues and title and escrow matters, but those matters are perhaps better directed at homeowners and buyers a little better off.

Designed specifically as first aid for homeowners in trouble, the BBBTips package is a complete, well-rounded life safer.

Bookmark it.

"Site To See" is a series of reviews and critiques of content-heavy real estate websites deemed unique, consumer-friendly, informative and easy to use.

Published: July 26, 2007

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.