FREE SERVICE

The IRS names this one directly. Promoters advertise on radio and TV claiming they can settle your IRS debt cheaply through an offer in compromise. The IRS’s own words: "In reality, you pay …

VA states it plainly: "the services an accredited VSO representative provides on your VA benefit claims are always free." Accredited attorneys and claims agents, by contrast, CAN charge fees…

The FTC’s position is unambiguous: "You don’t need to pay a company to talk to your credit card company on your behalf — you can do it yourself, for free," and for student loans the free ser…

Applying for SSI or SSDI is free, and helping someone fill in the application is not a regulated activity — a friend, a caseworker, or a community organisation can sit with you and do it. Wh…

Searching for unclaimed property is free, and NAUPA says so on its own front page: "Search for your unclaimed property (it’s free)," through MissingMoney.com, "a free website, managed by NAU…

Dial 211 from any phone and a local specialist will search what is actually funded and open in your county right now — rent and utility help, food, healthcare costs, mental health, substance…

Federal grant money flows through OCTAE’s Division of Adult Education and Literacy to state and local programmes so adults can "acquire the basic skills necessary to function in today’s soci…

Agriculture specialists answer roughly 35,000 farmers a year — regenerative grazing, organic production, marketing strategy, climate resilience — free to the farmer, since 1987. Hands-on tec…

If you have been shown savings and CD offers in answer to the question "need an account for direct deposit," check what those offers actually require. A certificate of deposit with a $1,000 …

A free complaint that a company has to answer. The CFPB routes your complaint to the company and most companies respond within 15 days, with up to 60 days where a response is still in progre…

The Continuum of Care is how federal homelessness money reaches the ground: HUD funds nonprofit providers and state and local governments in each community to deliver shelter, rapid re-housi…

More than 100 land-grant colleges are obligated to share research-based knowledge with EVERY county in the United States, through county Extension agents — a public system from the Smith-Lev…

You have a statutory right to dispute anything incomplete or inaccurate in your credit file, and the reinvestigation is by law "free of charge." The agency must conduct a reasonable reinvest…

The FAFSA is not aid. It is the one form that decides whether you get aid, and by statute it is free. 20 U.S.C. § 1090 requires the Secretary of Education to produce a single common form and…

Eight federal outreach and student-services programmes for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, carrying students "through the academic pipeline from middle school to postbaccalaureate pro…

Work-Study is a JOB, not a grant. The statute (20 U.S.C. § 1087-51) describes its purpose as stimulating and promoting part-time employment for students who need the earnings to pay for thei…

A health center is a real clinic — primary care, often dental, behavioral health and a pharmacy — and federal regulation requires it to see you whether or not you can pay. The rule is not a …

A free lookup that tells you which food bank serves your ZIP code, and through it which pantries, mobile pantries and drive-thru distributions are near you. It is not money and it is not an …

AnnualCreditReport.com is the ONLY site authorised to give you the free credit reports federal law entitles you to. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion each must give you one free report every …

HUD-approved counselors are trained, federally approved advisers who will help you with renting, buying, defaults, forbearances, foreclosures and credit problems, and they do it at little or…

An IDR plan sets your federal student loan payment from your income and family size rather than your balance, and forgives the remaining balance after 20 to 25 years of payments depending on…

Direct File was the IRS’s own free filing tool, run directly by the government rather than by a tax company. Do not plan around it without checking first. Verified on 2026-09-14: directfile.…

Free brand-name tax software, provided through the IRS, for filers with adjusted gross income of $89,000 or less. There is also Free File Fillable Forms, which has no income limit at all but…

An offer in compromise settles a tax debt for less than the full amount, when you genuinely cannot pay it or paying would cause hardship. You apply yourself. The application fee is $205 (wai…

The nation’s largest free residential career training and education programme for low-income young adults. Free means free: training in fields like manufacturing, healthcare, technology and …

Free or small-fee legal representation in a fight with the IRS — audits, appeals, collection, and cases in court. These clinics are independent of the IRS and of the Taxpayer Advocate Servic…

Free lawyers for civil problems — eviction, foreclosure, custody, child support, domestic violence protection, veterans benefits, employment, and access to benefits such as Medicare and Soci…

Federally funded people, in your town, who will sit with you and complete your Marketplace, Medicaid or CHIP application for free. Not money — expert help, which for this program is worth mo…

If you have been shown "debt settlement" offers quoting a 14%-25% ENROLLMENT FEE, understand what that fee is: a percentage of the debt you enroll, paid to a for-profit company. A nonprofit …

A professional conservation planner walks your land with you and writes an engineering-and-agronomy plan for your specific acres — resource assessment, practice design, resource monitoring —…

Discount cards are free to you and they genuinely lower the cash price at the counter, sometimes dramatically, particularly on generics. Listed honestly: there is nothing wrong with using on…

You can begin a civil or criminal action in a federal court WITHOUT prepaying fees if you file an affidavit showing you cannot afford them. Being broke does not close the courthouse. The sam…

PSLF cancels the remaining balance on federal Direct Loans after 120 qualifying monthly payments made while working for a qualifying employer — federal, state, local or tribal government, th…

An apprenticeship pays you wages while you learn the trade and ends with a nationally recognised credential. There is no tuition debt at the end, which is the entire difference between this …

The FTC’s reporting channel for scams and businesses that did not make good on their promises. Be clear about what it is and is not: the FTC does NOT resolve individual consumer complaints. …

A free searchable directory of the manufacturer patient assistance programs described above, plus practical tools and articles, with a patient center and a provider center. It is information…

If a federal agency has treated your small business, non-profit or small government entity unfairly in enforcement — an excessive fine, a punitive audit, an inspection that felt like retalia…

The nation’s largest network of volunteer expert business mentors, free. Mentors are unpaid volunteers with real operating experience, and they will meet by email, phone or video as well as …

Free expert business mentoring — NOT money. Experienced volunteers help you plan, but no funds change hands. Valuable, free, and honest about being a service rather than a grant.…

Free, unbiased, in-depth one-on-one help with anything Medicare: choosing a plan, appealing a denial, and — the part that actually moves money — applying for Extra Help and Medicare Savings …

Free to low-cost, individualised business advising and technical assistance, for people already in business and for people who have not started yet. Business planning, strategy, operations, …

Every state, DC and the territories has a consumer protection office, usually inside the state attorney general’s office, handling complaints against businesses and investigating scams and f…

Every state has some version of this: if you cannot afford court filing fees, you ask the court to waive them, and applying for the waiver is itself free. In California you qualify by meetin…

When the IRS has gone wrong and normal channels have not fixed it, TAS is the inside route that costs nothing. It is an independent organization within the IRS, created by Congress in 1996, …

Free employment support for people already receiving SSDI or SSI who want to try working: career counselling, vocational rehabilitation, job placement. It is free and voluntary. The part tha…

If you have been shown "the government may owe you unclaimed funds," that is true and the search is FREE. Every state runs an unclaimed property office and searching it costs nothing. Finder…

Read this one correctly: the 2501 Program does NOT give money to individual farmers. It pays community organizations, nonprofits, universities and Tribal entities — about $22.3 million in FY…

A farm number costs nothing and you cannot receive NRCS or FSA financial assistance without one. It is also required for lending, disaster programs and county committee participation. Get it…

A free phone line that will find you food today. Call 1-866-3-HUNGRY (1-866-348-6479), Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern, and a person will look up emergency food provide…

Health care through the VA, with your access and costs determined by a priority group system. Copays apply for some care, tests and medications — VA publishes current copay rates — but incom…

For service members and veterans with service-connected disabilities: help to explore employment options and meet education or training needs. It runs on five tracks — reemployment, rapid ac…

Free entrepreneurial development services for service members, veterans, National Guard and Reserve members, military spouses and family members: workshops, one-to-one counselling and mentor…

A real person prepares and files your return, in person, for nothing. VITA has done this for over fifty years; TCE is the same thing aimed at older filers. The volunteers are not amateurs — …

IRS-run programs that prepare and file your tax return for free, at thousands of sites across the country, staffed by trained and certified volunteers. TCE focuses on older taxpayers and muc…

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is the law behind the public workforce system, and its services reach you through American Job Centers — the physical offices in most metropolita…

A national network of entrepreneurship centres designed to help women start and grow small businesses, offering free to low-cost counselling and training, plus help with federal contracting …

A community-based pre-apprenticeship programme for young people aged 16 to 24 who left school without a diploma. Participants work toward a high school diploma or equivalency while learning …