Dear Brandelyn,

Per our conversation, please see the below information about becoming a HUD housing Counselor.

• Certification Requirement
• Housing counseling required under or provided in connection with HUD programs must be provided only by certified housing counselors who work for organizations approved to participate in HUD’s Housing Counseling Program. In order to be certified, an individual must both pass a standardized written examination covering six major topic areas, and work for an agency approved to participate in HUD’s housing counseling program. In other words, you can take the certification exam without being employed at a HUD-approved agency; however, to become certified you must pass the exam and work for a HUD-approved agency.  
• Please visit the HUD Exchange to learn how to become a HUD Certified Housing Counseling Agency. For steps to certification visit the HUD Exchange website and view the HUD Certified Housing Counselor Application Process.
• Compliance
• See Housing Counseling: New Certification Requirements Final Rule on the HUD Exchange for more information. On August 5, 2020, HUD published an Interim Final Rule on the Federal Register website to announce a delay in the deadline for housing counselors to become HUD certified. The new final compliance date was August 1, 2021.
• Review Managing Certification After the Final Compliance Date and HUD Exchange FAQs related to compliance for more information.
• Retakes
• There is no limit on retakes for the Certification Exam. However, each retake must be purchased at the stated exam fee. You can take the Certification Exam as many times as necessary to achieve a passing score. If you receive a notice about maximum attempts, please call 210-489-1461. Hours of operation are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time Monday–Friday except Federal holidays.

The fee charged each time an individual takes the certification examination is based on the cost of administering the examination. As announced in the Federal Register Notice dated May 31, 2017, an online proctored exam costs $60 and an in-person proctored exam costs $100. Any changes in pricing will be published in advance in the Federal Register. 

The role of the HUD participating housing counseling agency in HUD Certified Housing Counselor Application Process is to verify counselor employment in FHA Connection and to update FHA Connection when counselor employment status changes.

HUDHousingCounselors.hud.gov also acknowledges the important role agencies play in supporting counselors as they prepare for certification. To best support your counselors through the certification process, please consider the following important information:

• HUDHousingCounselors.hud.gov user accounts are owned by the user. Changes to the account or exam schedule can only be initiated by the user regardless of exam payment source. Access to user accounts and related information is not permitted by third parties unless authorized by the user.
• Counselors should be encouraged to create their user account with an email address they can access from anywhere at any time.
• Registration for the HUD Housing Counselor Certification Exam must be completed through each counselor's HUDHousingCounselors.hud.gov user account. There is no method to register and pay for a group of candidates in a single transaction.
• Agencies should avoid creating HUDHousingCounselors.hud.gov user accounts for those who do not plan to take the exam.
• Counselors should log into their user account and initiate requests for help on their own behalf at Support.
• 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.

I hope this helps!

Sincerely, 

The HUDHousingCounselors.hud.gov Support Team