Get Help Now
Free, confidential help lines for crisis, bills, housing, legal questions and debt.
Every organization on this page is free or low cost, and we say which is which. None of them is us, none of them pays us, and we earn nothing from sending you to any of them. If one of these solves your problem and you never buy anything from The Response Desk™, that is a good outcome and the reason this page exists.
You are doing the right thing by looking. Most of the help listed here goes unclaimed every year — not because people don’t qualify, but because they never find out it exists. Reading a page like this one is how people find out.
If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
If you are in crisis — 988
Call or text 988. Chat at chat.988lifeline.org. The Lifeline describes what it offers as free and confidential emotional support, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Press 1 for Veterans and service members. Press 2 for Spanish. Using a TTY, dial 711 then 988. ASL users can reach 988 by videophone through a video relay provider.
You do not have to be about to do something to call. That is the misunderstanding that keeps people from dialling, and it costs lives. The 988 Lifeline is for anyone in emotional crisis, and that includes the kind of crisis that arrives in an envelope — the debt you cannot see a way out of, the shame that makes you stop opening the mail, the three-in-the-morning arithmetic that never comes out right. Money trouble is one of the heaviest things a person can carry, and carrying it alone is what makes it unbearable rather than merely hard. The person who answers will not lecture you, will not call anyone without talking to you about it first, and will not need you to explain why it got this bad. They will just stay on the line. If you have read this far and something in your chest went tight, that is the sign. Call them tonight, not after you have sorted everything out.
If talking out loud isn’t possible — Crisis Text Line
Text HOME to 741741. Free, 24 hours a day. Chat at connect.crisistextline.org/chat, or on WhatsApp at 1-443-787-7678. Your carrier’s normal message rates may apply.
In their words, you are texting to connect with a volunteer Crisis Counselor — a trained person, not a bot and not a script. They are not medical professionals and they do not give medical advice; what they do is stay with you.
Some people cannot make a phone call. There is someone in the next room, or the words will not come, or a voice on the line is simply more than you can manage tonight. Texting is not the lesser option. For a great many people it is the only door that opens, and you can take as long as you need between messages. Nobody is listening to you cry.
If you are a Veteran or service member — Veterans Crisis Line
Dial 988 then press 1. Text 838255. Chat at VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat.
Their own page says it plainly: “You don’t have to be enrolled in VA benefits or health care.” No registration, no paperwork, no proving anything first. Calls, chats and texts are free and confidential, and you decide how much to share.
And it is not only for suicidal crisis. They list feeling hopeless, anxiety, agitation, and rising substance use as reasons to make contact — which covers a great deal of what financial strain actually does to a person. You can also call about someone else: “the Veteran or service member in your life.”
The people answering are trained for your situation specifically, and a significant number have worn the uniform themselves, so you will not spend ten minutes explaining what a deployment does to a household budget. Financial strain after service is common and it is not a character failure. Call before it compounds.
Stationed overseas? There are separate lines by command: PACOM +1 844-702-5493, EUCOM +1 844-702-5495, CENTCOM +1 855-422-7719, AFRICOM +1 888-482-6054, SOUTHCOM +1 866-989-9599. On base, dial DSN 988.
If drinking or using has become part of how you cope — SAMHSA National Helpline
1-800-662-4357 (1-800-662-HELP). Free, confidential, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. English and Spanish.
The federal government describes it as a treatment referral and information service for people and families facing mental health or substance use disorders. It is not an emergency line, and it is not a sales line for a treatment centre — they refer you to local services, including free and low-cost ones, and they will talk to family members too.
Hard months and heavier drinking travel together more often than anyone admits out loud. If the bills got worse and so did the evenings, that is a pattern worth naming to somebody whose job is to help rather than judge. One call costs nothing and nobody has to know you made it.
If someone is hurting you at home — National Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-799-SAFE (1-800-799-7233). Text START to 88788. Chat at thehotline.org. En español: espanol.thehotline.org.
Financial control is a recognised form of abuse, and it is one of the main reasons people stay. If someone controls the money, runs up debt in your name, stops you working, or makes you account for every dollar, that is not a budgeting disagreement. You do not have to label what is happening, and you do not have to be planning to leave, to talk to someone who understands it. They will talk through safety, money and options without pushing you toward any particular decision. If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
If you are Deaf or hard of hearing, the Deaf Hotline runs a separate videophone service at 855-812-1001.
After a fire, flood, storm or other disaster — Disaster Distress Helpline
Call or text 1-800-985-5990. Free, confidential, 24 hours a day. English, Spanish and ASL by videophone.
Run by SAMHSA, for emotional distress after a disaster or traumatic event. The money part of a disaster arrives late and lasts far longer than the news coverage: the insurance shortfall, the repairs that cost double the estimate, the job you could not get back to. If you are months past the event and still not right, you are not behind schedule. That is the normal shape of this, and this line exists for exactly that stretch of it.
If money is the problem right now — 211
Dial 211, or visit 211.org.
Three digits, designated by the Federal Communications Commission in 2000 for exactly this, and almost nobody knows it is there. More than 200 local 211 agencies answer across the country, staffed by people 211 describes as “compassionate, highly trained community specialists.” Calls are confidential, and they can be anonymous — which matters if the thing stopping you is embarrassment rather than doubt.
They know what help exists where you live: the church fund that covers utility arrears, the community action agency with money still in this quarter’s budget, the local charity that pays landlords directly, the food pantry three streets away. No national list can hold what a 211 specialist knows about your county. People spend weeks searching online for help that one phone call would have found in fifteen minutes.
The network handles more than thirteen million requests for help a year. You would not be unusual. If you only do one thing on this page, do this one, and do it before you borrow money from anyone.
Coverage is very broad but not quite universal. If 211 does not connect where you are, check 211.org for your area.
If your home is at risk — HUD-approved housing counselor
800-569-4287 (TTY 202-708-1455), or find one by ZIP code at consumerfinance.gov/find-a-housing-counselor.
Foreclosure, eviction and homeless counseling are always free. HUD says that in those words, and it is the situation most people arrive in. The CFPB describes what you get as independent advice, often at little or no cost to you.
A HUD-approved counselor will go through your whole housing position, tell you what your realistic options are, and in many cases contact your lender with you. They are approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, they do not work on commission, and they are not trying to sell you a refinance. If you are behind on a mortgage, call them today — ahead of us, ahead of any company that has written to you offering to save your home, and ahead of anyone asking for money up front. We do not sell a paid mortgage service, and this is why.
Other kinds of housing counseling may carry a modest fee. Any fee must be disclosed before counseling begins, and agencies are required to waive it for clients who cannot afford it. Ask at the start.
If you need to talk through debt with someone impartial — NFCC
nfcc.org/locator finds a nonprofit member agency near you. Their own terms: no upfront fees and no obligation, and they work with people regardless of your income or financial status.
The National Foundation for Credit Counseling accredits nonprofit counseling agencies. That word nonprofit is doing real work: these counselors do not earn a commission on what you decide, which makes their advice worth more than advice from anyone who does. They will go through your income and your debts with you and tell you plainly what is realistic — including, sometimes, that your situation needs a lawyer or a bankruptcy conversation rather than a payment plan.
Ask what it costs on the first call. An initial session is commonly free, but fees vary by agency and service, and a nonprofit agency will tell you straight. If you have been getting advice from companies that found you rather than companies you found, this is the counterweight.
If you have been sued, or have a court date — free legal aid
lawhelp.org — “We help people understand their rights and solve legal problems.” Run by Pro Bono Net, covering every state and territory, with free legal rights information, court forms and referrals to nonprofit legal aid providers.
Stop writing letters and make this call. A letter is useless against a court deadline, and court deadlines are strict, short, and easy to miss by accident. If you have been served with papers, have a hearing date, or are facing eviction, foreclosure, garnishment or repossession, you need a lawyer or a legal aid office now — this week, not after you have tried everything else. Legal aid is free for people who qualify, the income limits are more generous than most people assume, and the single most expensive mistake in this entire subject is missing a court date because you thought you could handle it on paper.
If a company will not deal with you — CFPB complaint
consumerfinance.gov/complaint. Free, and it takes under ten minutes online.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau takes complaints about banks, lenders, credit card companies, debt collectors, credit reporting and more. Here is the part that makes it worth your evening: the CFPB sends your complaint to the company, and companies generally respond within 15 days. You are notified when they do, and you then have 60 days to say what you think of the answer.
People dismiss this as shouting into a void. It is not. A complaint creates a record, puts the matter in front of someone whose job is to resolve it rather than deflect it, and frequently produces movement after months of being ignored. If you have been passed between departments, promised callbacks that never came, or told something on the phone that nobody will put in writing, this is the lever.
If the IRS is the problem — Taxpayer Advocate Service
877-777-4778. Offices in every state. The IRS says simply: “The service is free.”
An independent organization inside the IRS whose actual job is helping taxpayers resolve problems they have not been able to fix on their own. You may qualify if the problem is causing you financial difficulty, if you have tried to resolve it and could not, or if you believe an IRS process is not working properly.
That middle ground is the one to notice: “I have called three times and nothing has happened” is precisely what they exist for. Free, and not widely known even among people who have been fighting a notice for a year.
To check whether a letter claiming to be from the IRS is genuine, call the IRS directly on 800-829-1040 — that number, not any number printed on the letter.
If the heat or the power is the problem — energy assistance
National Energy Assistance Referral line: 1-866-674-6327, weekdays 9am to 7pm Eastern. State-by-state contacts: search “LIHEAP state and territory contact listing” on acf.gov.
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps with heating and cooling costs, and it has a crisis category specifically for emergencies like a shutoff notice — crisis applications are often handled faster than ordinary ones, so say the word “crisis” when you apply. Each state sets its own income limits and they are usually higher than people guess, so do not rule yourself out on an assumption. Most of this money goes unclaimed every year by people who qualified and never applied.
The federal state-by-state listing is uneven — a few states and territories have no phone number or no website link on it. If your state’s entry looks thin, call the hotline above or dial 211, and they will route you.
Services for an older adult, or for a carer — Eldercare Locator
1-800-677-1116, Monday to Friday, 8am to 9pm Eastern. Online chat at eldercare.acl.gov during the same hours, or email eldercarelocator@USAging.org.
A public service of the federal Administration on Aging, connecting older Americans and their caregivers with local support. Enter a ZIP code, or call, and it finds your local agency on aging — meals, home care, transport, caregiver training and respite.
If you are the one holding a parent’s bills together alongside your own, this is the number that finds the local help nobody told you about. Carers routinely spend a year doing this alone before they learn these agencies exist. You do not get a medal for that year. Make the call.
Finding help in your own state
Everything above is national. But a great deal of the best help is run by your state or your county, and that is where most of the money actually sits.
Looking for it yourself is the right move, and we want to say so plainly. Most people in a hard month never ask anyone for anything — not because the help isn’t there, but because asking feels like admitting something. If you are reading this far down a page like this one, you have already got past the hardest part. What is left is legwork, and legwork is something you can do.
Start with these. Somebody else keeps them current.
These are national directories that find the local version for you. We link to them rather than listing every state ourselves, because the organizations that run them update them constantly and we would rather send you somewhere accurate than somewhere we wrote once and forgot.
| What you need | Where to look | Who runs it |
|---|---|---|
| Local help of almost any kind | 211.org, or dial 211 | More than 200 local 211 agencies nationwide |
| A housing counselor near you | consumerfinance.gov/find-a-housing-counselor | The CFPB, using HUD’s official list. Enter a ZIP code |
| Free legal aid in your state | lawhelp.org | Pro Bono Net — every state and territory |
| Help with heating and cooling bills | acf.gov — “LIHEAP state and territory contact listing” | The federal Office of Community Services |
| Services for an older adult or a carer | eldercare.acl.gov | The federal Administration on Aging |
| A nonprofit credit counselor | nfcc.org/locator | The National Foundation for Credit Counseling |
| Your state’s insurance department | content.naic.org/state-insurance-departments | The National Association of Insurance Commissioners — all 50 states, DC and the territories |
Finding anything else: the pattern
Nearly every state agency can be found the same way. Type your state’s name, then what you need. That is the whole trick, and it works for all fifty states.
| If you need | Search for |
|---|---|
| Help with an energy bill | [your state] LIHEAP or [your state] energy assistance |
| The rules on utility shutoffs where you live | [your state] public utility commission disconnection rules |
| To complain about a business or a collector | [your state] attorney general consumer complaint |
| Help with rent | [your state] emergency rental assistance |
| Your state’s health coverage | [your state] Medicaid apply |
| Help with a state tax bill | [your state] department of revenue payment plan |
| Local services for an older relative | [your state] area agency on aging |
| A hospital’s own assistance program | [hospital name] financial assistance policy |
That last one is worth doing for every medical bill you hold. Nonprofit hospitals are required to publish their policy, and most patients never look for it.
How to tell you are in the right place
Three checks, and they take seconds.
Look for .gov at the end of the web address. Government sites end in .gov. A site ending in .com or .org may still be excellent — legal aid and charities often are — but .gov tells you that you have reached the agency itself rather than somebody writing about it.
Never pay for something that is free. This is the one that costs people real money. There are businesses that charge a fee to do things you can do yourself for nothing: applying for benefits, requesting a credit report, filling in a government form, “finding” assistance programs. If a site asks for a card before it will tell you anything, close it. The genuine programs on this page do not charge to apply.
Be careful with sponsored results. The first results on a search page are often advertisements, and companies selling services bid on exactly the words a worried person types. Scroll past them to the .gov result.
If the first call goes nowhere
It happens, and it is not a sign that you were wrong to try.
Agencies run out of money mid-year, programs open and close on their own calendars, and the person who answers the phone may not know everything the office does. Ask the question that gets you further: “If this isn’t something you can help with, who should I be calling instead?” Front-line staff at these agencies know the landscape better than any website does, and most of them are glad to point you somewhere. One call frequently produces two more leads.
Keep a short note of who you spoke to and when. By the fourth call it stops being a blur, and it means you never repeat a dead end.
And set your expectations where they belong. Finding the right office is most of the job. It took somebody a phone call to find every one of these programs for the first time, and you are doing that work while also carrying whatever brought you here. That is not nothing, and it is not a small skill.
Free things you are entitled to
Your free credit reports. The Federal Trade Commission calls AnnualCreditReport.com “the only Web site from which consumers are legally entitled to receive a free annual credit report.” You get one free report from each of the three nationwide bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — and you can take all three at once or space them across the year. The FTC also warns that emails and pop-up ads claiming to come from that site are unauthorised and may be scams. Type the address in yourself.
IRS Free File, at irs.gov. It is seasonal — the IRS reopens it each January. Guided tax software is free if your adjusted gross income is $95,000 or less, and Free File Fillable Forms has no income limit at all, which almost nobody is told. Start at IRS.gov rather than a tax company’s own site, because that is what makes it free. State returns may still cost.
Your hospital’s financial assistance program. Nonprofit hospitals are required to have a written one. Ask the billing office for the Financial Assistance Policy and the application, by name. Most patients never ask, and qualifying changes what they are allowed to charge you.
If a letter turns out to be the missing piece
Only then, and only for the part you actually need. Every one of these shows its fee before you order, and none of them involves a phone call.
- Hardship Requests — asking a hospital, utility, landlord, lender or school to consider you under its own hardship or assistance program.
- Debt Verification Request — asking a collector to prove a debt in writing before you pay or agree to anything.
- Overcharge & Refund Disputes — for money you were wrongly charged, or a deposit that was not returned.
- Dispute, Demand & Formal-Response Letters — when you need someone to finally respond.
- Guided Review — you write it, we sharpen it. The cheapest way to work with us.
- Free Mortgage Hardship Letter — free, no purchase, download it and send it.
And if none of it fits, that is a real answer too. Several things on this page we cannot do and would not charge you for trying.
One last thing
Needing help with a bill is not a moral failure and it is not rare. It is one of the most ordinary things that happens to people, and the only reason it feels isolating is that nobody talks about it at work.
Looking beyond us is the sensible thing to do, and we built this page to help you do it. We are a letter-writing service. We are good at one specific part of this — putting a clear, documented request on paper — and that part is worth paying for only when it is the part you actually need. Most of what is on this page does more for most people than we can, and it costs nothing.
So use it. Work down it, make the calls, keep your notes. If a letter turns out to be the missing piece, we will be here and the fee will be on the page before you order. If it doesn’t, you have lost nothing and you will have found something better.
Either way, the person who goes looking is the person who finds something. That is not encouragement. It is just how it works.
The Response Desk™ is a letter-writing and communications service, not a law firm. Nothing on this page is legal, financial, tax or medical advice. Listing an organization is not an endorsement of any outcome. Quoted descriptions belong to the organizations themselves. Every number here was checked twice on 30 October 2026, but programs and numbers change — if something on this page no longer works, please tell us and we will correct it.