It’s no secret that debt is a big issue in our community. With large families, high tuition bills, and a focus on helping others over simply amassing wealth, many people are sucked into high-interest credit cards, which they struggle to pay up over the course of decades.
Others fall into the credit card trap through the offers of free rewards in the form of miles, points, and status. But the availability of “free money” is too hard to refuse, and people often get stuck with astronomical debts.
In recent months, many have found relief through Kosher Debt Help, a non-profit that helps Jewish individuals and families break free of the cycle of debt, with a focus on honesty, transparency, confidentiality, and clarity.
“I was there,” Mordy Richler, a debt expert at Kosher Debt Help, said. “I was 35 years old, $250,000 in the red, and I had no idea where to turn.”
Richler took the bull by the horns, took advantage of introductory zero percent offers and kept moving things around to avoid high interest while adhering to a strict payment plan, and within a few years he was debt free.
Richler is part of a team of experts that form the Kosher Debt Help division of Collective Kindness, a “smart Chesed” organization founded by Shalom Goodman, a former editor at the Wall Street Journal, back in 2023.
Thanks to the partnership and vision of an anonymous donor, as well as Daily Giving, whose mission it is to enable every Jew to easily give charity every single day, the cost for a full debt treatment is majorly subsidized with further assistance available for those who need.
According to Goodman, Kosher Debt Help emerged from a simple but frustrating search. “When we were looking for debt solutions in the Jewish community that weren’t profiting off people’s financial struggles, we found the landscape surprisingly complicated. Most debt services either had hidden agendas, charged excessive fees, or simply weren’t designed with our community values in mind.”
While the Jewish community has hashgachah in our restaurants, advisory boards in our schools, and committees in our communal institutions, Goodman says the debt industry is a “wild west.”
“Torah calls interest neshech because it bites like a snake, it sneaks up from behind, and you might not even feel it at first,” says Goodman, whose organization has helped hundreds of families, many of whom struggle with financial challenges on several fronts. “Kosher Debt Help has one purpose: To help you face that snake head on, neutralize it, and make sure you don’t get bitten again.”
If you need help with debt, fill out the simple application at Kosherdebthelp.com today.
We promise to be honest, professional, confidential, respectful and keep your best interests in mind.
G-D Bless You
CK is amazing. They are a hand up, not a hand out. They are very sensitive as well.
I’m already in a debt repayment plan which is a lifesaver, but the condition is I’m not allowed to open any new loans or cc. There were a few loans not included in the plan because they don’t work with those lenders. So moving my remaining debt to 0% APR CC isn’t going to work unless they know a way around it. (Even if my credit is good enough to qualify for new loans, which I”m not sure about.)
Are you on a DMP? Chances are you can open a new card even while on a DMP. It might not be the right thing to do, it really depends on the situation. The idea of not opening new credit while on a DMP is to not take out new debt while struggling the pay the old one. Regarding your credit, how bad is it? If you have serious delinquencies already (defaults efc.) perhaps defaulting on the debts that weren’t added to the DMP might be the right solution, again, it would depend on the details. Perhaps signup and we… Read more »
Mordy Richler, a chabadnik, is such a mench.
Honest, always ready to help.
I’ve been amazed by him and what Kosher Debt Help has built.
Kudos to them.
Can’t recommend them enough