The purpose of HUDHousingCounselors.hud.gov is to help counselors prepare for the HUD Housing Counselor Certification Exam and provide access to the exam. After passing the exam and transferring the results to FHA Connection, counselor certification activities shift from HUDHousingCounselors.hud.gov to FHA Connection.

Counselors maintain their certification status by updating personal information on the HUD Certified Housing Counselor Database Update/Renewal page on FHA Connection. Exam results and counselor application information are stored permanently on FHA Connection. Counselors should become familiar with FHA Connection to understand which steps are required to update and maintain personal information, including changing employers.

It is important to note that agencies are required to validate the end of a counselor’s employment. If a counselor is between agencies, hiring agencies will NOT be able to find the counselor in the database if the previous agency has verified their end of employment in FHA Connection. After the counselor’s end of employment has been verified, they no longer meet the criteria for certification.

In order to demonstrate to hiring agencies that a counselor has been previously certified, it is recommended that counselors maintain a copy of their most recent certificate which names the counselor and the agency. Certificates are available to download and print from FHA Connection only while a counselor’s employment at an approved housing counseling agency is validated in FHA Connection. Each time a counselor’s employment is verified at a new agency, a certificate is available to print with the new agency’s information displayed.

A certificate is not available to print during periods when the counselor is not employed by an approved agency or when the counselor is employed by an approved agency but their employment has not been verified in FHA Connection.

Please visit the HUD Exchange for more information. If you require assistance with FHA Connection Contact housing.counseling@hud.gov and include “FHAC” in the subject line of your message.