Consumers are doing a poor job of taking advantage of financialcounseling services under last year's CARD Act, the NationalFoundation for Credit Counseling charged Wednesday.

Indeed, the association's help line connecting consumers tomember agencies is going unused and that is “confusing particularlyduring this current economic environment where millions ofconsumers have serious financial concerns,” said the tradegroup.

“Every month tens of millions of credit card statements aremailed to consumers as a result of the CARD Act and every statementis required to display a toll free number directing consumers tonon profit credit counseling agencies for help managing theirfinances,” said the NFCC.

The result, said NFCC, has been that the NFCC toll-free line hasbeen listed on 500 million statements since the implementation dateof Feb. 22, 2010, but “only 150,000 people have reached out forhelp with their financial situation.”

This is unhealthy, said the NFCC, since consumers are notcontacting the 800 agencies that comprise the NFCC network.

“Consumers are doing themselves a disservice by not takingadvantage of this resource, as reviewing their situation with atrained and certified credit counselor could provide solutionsthey've not considered.”