credit counselling crisis!!

I've been faithfully paying on my defaulted student loan through a credit counsellor for the past year and a half. I don't have much money left over after these payments, so if something arises that requires money (like medical expenses or something) I'm pretty much screwed.

Well, I owe Revenue Canada over $1000 in income tax for 2003. This is not because I make so much money that I have to pay in. It's because I work two part-time jobs and not enough taxes were taken out. Even with the over $2000 I claimed for interest paid on my student loan, it didn't make one difference in my tax assessment, not that I thought it would, but that's another issue.

I need to decrease the amount I pay on my student loan for the next year in order to pay this income tax, but my credit counsellor said that the collection agencies that previously 'handled' my debt may not lower the payments. I have a sense that my credit counsellor is not going to do much advocating for me, as he makes it seem almost hopeless and basically wants me to look into other areas where I can decrease spending, which is impossible, because almost every cent I make goes towards essentials. I can't even remember the last time I bought new shoes!! My credit counsellor knows all of this because he has a copy of all of my bills and expenses, which gets updated on a regular basis.

I'm starting to get frustrated and am wondering if this credit counselling thing was the best option for me. What is the deal with credit counsellors anyway and how much can they really do for me, aside from distribute my montly payments? There was a post providing the low down on collection agencies (how they operate, how to deal with them, etc). I'm sure there are many members here who are working with a credit counsellor, can someone in the know provide a low down on credit counselling agencies?

When I had my first meeting with credit counselling, they analyzed my expenses and contacted my creditors. I ended up having to pay more per month than when I was on interest relief. Of course, this increase includes the fee that credit counselling charges monthly, this fee is included in your monthly payment.

From my experience, the only benefit of credit counselling is that  you no longer have to deal with collection agencies directly.

Other than that, there really isn't anything credit counselling is doing for me that I myself can't do. If my debt was consumer debt, credit counselling would be of more benefit to me, because I would have more options in terms of reducing/elminating interest, settlements, etc. A government student debt has many restrictions that credit counselling can't get around. I'm looking into other options for dealing with my debt.

That's just my two cents.