GreenPath Financial Wellness Celebrates 60 Years of Empowering Financial Wellness

Since its beginnings in 1961, GreenPath Financial Wellness has become one of the largest, most trusted national nonprofits focused on financial wellness for everyone. For more than 60 years, millions of people have turned to GreenPath to help them navigate debt, foreclosure, bankruptcy or credit challenges and reach their financial goals.
Albert O. Horner founded GreenPath with a vision: to change lives. Born out of the Michigan Credit Union League as a budgeting and financial education service, the organization was incorporated as Credit Counseling Centers several years later. GreenPath was one of the country’s first agencies that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approved to conduct financial counseling services. Since 2004, its 995-HOPE hotline and 167 HUD-certified counselors and housing experts have helped more than 9 million distressed borrowers. GreenPath was one of the first agencies approved by the Department of Justice to provide bankruptcy and education services. “I am so grateful to all those who are continuing my life’s work and passion,” remarked Mr. Horner.
GreenPath changes people’s lives in profound ways. We have done this for 60 years and continue to do it in better ways every day,” said Kristen Holt, GreenPath President and CEO. “When I think of the ‘why’ behind our work, it starts with those we have served over the last six decades. We empower people to build financial resiliency. THIS is why I get up every day for this work, knowing that our work matters.”

A key differentiator is GreenPath’s team of financial wellness experts. Whether they’ve worked 3 months or 30 years, GreenPath counselors work passionately with clients. The nonprofit has infused human-centered design into its DNA, putting people at the center of everything it does. GreenPath’s culture has become more open, inclusive and impact focused. For consecutive years, GreenPath has been named a Top Workplace by the Detroit Free Press, Energage and Companies That Care.
Holt added: “I love leading an organization where each of our nearly 500 team members wakes up each day wanting to improve our client’s lives and their financial health. With our counselors’ empathy and unbiased advice, GreenPath has become a national leader in financial wellness and stands ready to serve in the decades ahead.”
Under Holt’s leadership, GreenPath’s series of strategic acquisitions have grown its client base, increased grant funding and amplified economies of scale. Between March 2017 and March 2019, GreenPath acquired Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Orange County, Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Central Oklahoma, and completed strategic affiliations with Homeownership Preservation Foundation (HPF), Rural Dynamics and ClariFi. These investments added 60 employees and 13 locations to GreenPath’s footprint.

“In 2001, our name was changed from Credit Counseling Centers to GreenPath in an effort to reinforce our commitment to providing holistic financial counseling that addresses the full picture of a person’s financial situation,” said Donna McNeill, GreenPath Chief Operating Officer. “To make our counseling more widely available, we became licensed nationally, added phone counseling to what was only in-person counseling, and updated our internal systems and digital tools -- so that we could provide the highest quality services in the market.”
Another key component to GreenPath’s success is its work with more than 550 credit unions, banks, and employer partners. Through these partnerships, new offerings such as virtual coaching and greater access to GreenPath’s trusted financial counseling can be provided for millions of individuals across the nation.

About GreenPath Financial Wellness
As one of the largest financial counseling agencies in the nation, GreenPath Financial Wellness has assisted millions of people with debt and credit management, student loans, homeownership and foreclosure prevention. Headquartered in Michigan, GreenPath and its affiliates work directly with individuals, banks, credit unions and employer partners across the U.S. from more than 33 locations and through phone access and online tools. GreenPath is a member of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, Michigan Diversity Council, Texas Diversity Council, and is accredited by the Council on Accreditation.