ATLANTA -- A metro area man says his credit was ruined after he went to Consumer Credit Counseling Services to lower his bills.

The non-profit organization is known for low cost financial counseling and helping consumers better manage their debts. But a mistake between CCCS and two credit card companies left Keith Gauthier in even worse shape than when he started.

Gauthier made all his payments like he was supposed to only to find out his credit score had actually dropped 140 points since he started credit counseling.

“Your credit nowadays is everything,” said Gauthier.

Gauthier learned that lesson after trying to start a business. It failed and he was left paying the bills. High interest rates on several credit cards landed him at Consumer Credit Counseling Services.

“They told me they were going to consolidate all my credit. They would work with creditors to lower the interest rates and we did that,” said Gauthier.

He paid CCCS every month and lowered his debt by $23,000. He met with them to renegotiate his monthly payment and thought everything was fine until he tried to refinance his home.

“When he did his purchase he had a 680 credit score and when he went to refinance he had a 540. It’s a huge drop. It’s a tremendous drop,” said mortgage broker Laura Sosa-Rocha.

His mortgage broker pointed it out and Gauthier started asking questions. He learned two credit card companies never accepted that renegotiated payment. CCCS hadn’t told him and he’d been paying too little for an entire year.

“When I found out the problem I was livid and I wanted to get it dealt with right away,” said Gauthier.

He found that wasn’t so easy. CCCS did send a letter verifying Gauthier made “continuous timely payments” to them and that his bad credit was “due to a lapse of communication between the creditors and CCCS.” But he’s stuck with a mortgage rate above 10 percent, and so far, CCCS hasn’t been able to undo the damage.

"I would love for them to straighten out my credit. I don't know how that's going to be done,” said Gauthier.

CCCS told Channel 2 they have changed their procedures to help keep it from happening to anyone else. They also agreed to contact higher-ups at those two credit card companies to see if they can do anything on Gauthier’s behalf.