Five Questions: Joe Stokes

Joe Stokes accepted the position of president and CEO of Consumer Credit Counseling Service on May 1, replacing longtime administrator Mike Cherry. A 32-year veteran of City Utilities, Stokes is no stranger to CCCS. He served on the organization’s board for 20 years, originally helping to guide it through an administrative rough patch. Active in the community, Stokes helped raise $300,000 to create a Miracle League for disabled youth who wish to play baseball. He also has been active in Springfield Rotary Club North and in the Greene County Baptist Association. Stokes said a desire to help others informed his decision to join the credit counseling agency.

CU Days
“At City Utilities, I was internal auditor for four years, and then I spent about 11 years in customer service. In about 1995, we created the key account manager position, so I spent about 16 years as key account manager, working with our largest customers, (such as) Kraft Foods, Cox and Mercy. I enjoyed that job tremendously. I was the primary contact point. If they needed help, they contacted me. Both with incoming requests and outgoing information, it was my job to keep them informed of things that might impact their operations. I developed a lot of great relationships, and we helped a lot of people save a lot of money. We helped them to conserve their utilities because we felt like the more successful they were, the more likely they were to stay in Springfield.”

The Invitation
“I’ve been on the board of Consumer Credit Counseling Service since 1991. … Because of my work at City Utilities as a credit and collection manager, I was asked to come on board by the head of the Credit Bureau of Springfield [a sister organization to CCCS at the time] to help bring some stability to the organization. (Jack Trogdon) brought on three of us at the time because we all had strong management backgrounds and backgrounds in accounting and collections. … When President and CEO Mike Cherry decided to retire, the board approached me late last year to consider it. I have a love for what we do. For about two years, I have felt a desire to work for a nonprofit that worked directly with families. This job fits all of that.”

Budgeting Basics
“Typically, people come in and need help with their bills, whether they are medical bills or credit card bills, and they can’t afford their minimum payments. They will come to us with a handful of credit cards, and we will go over all of their bills, and help them prepare a budget. We look at their basic expenses (and) we look at their income, and anything left over, we will use to pay the bills. We will literally contact every creditor to get their minimum payments adjusted.”

Credit Crunch
“Let’s face it, if we didn’t get involved, collectors could be hired to collect payments, and they might charge 40 percent to 50 percent [of the total bill]. Creditors will pay us a fair share, which is typically 5 percent of whatever we send them. They can pay us 5 percent or they can pay collectors 50 percent, so it is good for the creditor. I have a list of referrals that we get that probably has 40 or 50 names. Credit card companies will refer people to us, [as will] bankers and attorneys. Maybe somebody has thought about filing bankruptcy, but they are not a good fit, so they will refer (clients) to us instead.”

Commitment to Pay
“We have 23 employees, and I am in charge of day-to-day operations and public relations in the community. We live off of referrals, so part of my job is public relations. Then, I’m just trying to make sure our counselors have everything they need to do their work with the clients. Our main work is debt management plans. … Not counting people who attend our educational classes, we help about 6,000 people per year with credit counseling, housing counseling and bankruptcy counseling at our four offices combined. We have two offices in Springfield, one in Joplin and one in West Plains.”