William (Bill) Binzel is Chief Counsel, Senior Vice President Legislative Affairs for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. He joined the NFCC in May 2004.

Founded in 1951, the NFCC, through its member agencies, sets the national standard for quality credit counseling, debt reduction services and education for financial wellness. NFCC is the nation’s largest and longest serving national nonprofit credit counseling network. With more than 1,000 community-based agency offices across the country, NFCC members help more than one million households annually. NFCC members are known mostly as Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS). Some members use other names. But all NFCC members can be identified by the NFCC member seal. This seal signifies high standards for agency accreditation, counselor certification and policies that ensure free or low-cost confidential services. NFCC member offices can be reached in communities nation-wide, toll-free at 1-800-388-2227, or online at: www.nfcc.org. The NFCC office is located in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Bill coordinates the Foundation's legal needs, and is responsible for the NFCC’s legislative agenda and representing the positions of the NFCC and its members at the federal and state level.

Bill has over 23 years of experience in the legislative arena. Most recently he served as Vice President - Public Affairs for MasterCard International, the global payments services company headquartered in Purchase, NY. From 1993-2004, he was based in Washington, DC and represented MasterCard and its thousands of member financial institutions in the United States on legislative and related matters. Bill was involved significantly in the 1996 and 2003 revisions to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, bankruptcy reform, identity fraud, and consumer and financial privacy. He was also responsible for establishing MasterCard's state legislative program and operations.

Prior to joining MasterCard, Bill spent 12 years as a staff member of the U.S. House of Representatives. From 1991-93, Bill was the Republican Counsel for the Subcommittee on Consumer Credit of the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs. The Subcommittee had jurisdiction over virtually all aspects of the regulation of consumer credit. He served as Legislative Director and Counsel to Congressman Alfred A. McCandless (R-Palm Springs, CA), a member of the House Banking Committee, from 1984-91.

Bill has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Greater Washington, seeing first hand the challenges that confront NFCC members and agencies in the current environment. He has also served on the Governing Board, Advisory Council, and Research Committee of the Credit Research Center of the McDonough School of Business of Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

A native of southern Ohio, Bill holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Capital University Law School in Columbus, OH and a Bachelor of Arts degree in U.S. History from the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse.