I wouldn’t trust any company, talk with someone you know who is good at managing their finances and get their opinion.
I just traded my Dodge and it’s monthly payments along with a nice BMW for an old Chevy this is paid off. Should save between 450-500 bucks a month.billy is right. Do not trust any of these consolidation people. The overwhelming majority just charge you money, do not really do that much and usually leave you in the same shape or worse in the end. They charge you money for something you can do yourself. The fact that you want to do something about your debts is good. Make sure you do the right thing. Most people think they are eliminating debt and all they are really doing is moving it from one place to another. A lot of people want to consolidate, so what do they do? They take out a home equity loan to pay off all their debt. They have not eliminated anything they just moved it to a new line of credit. The problem with this is that they do not change their spending habits. Now that they have no credit card debt and other things, they keep spending and run the credit cards up again. Now they have huge credit card bills again, AND owe on a home equity line. Now the hole is even deeper. I know because I did this. Avoid this pitfall at all costs. We felt like We were being proactive because we were doing something but, it was the wrong thing. We just moved debt around and did not eliminate it. My wife and I found a great debt plan that is pretty simple and works amazingly well. Please read a book called the Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. It has changed our financial lives and will change yours. If everyone were on this plan, the world economy would not be in the tank right now. It is pretty simple really. You have to live on a budget. Tell every single dollar where to go not wonder where it went. You have to live on less than you make. (Not really rocket science here). Every extra dollar goes to debt elimination. It will also teach you how to get organized and pay down debt. Set up emergency funds. Invest for kids college and retirement and sooooo much more. It has really changed our attitude towards debt and personal finance. We were living on a plan and were sinking. The best thing we did was to get a new plan and now things are awesome. We have hope again and can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We know we will be financially stable and very well off when retirement comes.
It is tough at first, but once you get going, you will be so intense about every dollar you will be amazed. We really can not give this plan enough praise. Read the book and change your financial life. It is easy common sense stuff your grandmother would give you.
Stay away from debt consolidation and do it yourself. If you can add and subtract, you can do it. You just have to have a plan where finances are concerned. It is the most important thing you can do for you and your family.
Good Luck. I wish you the best.“Debt consolidation” can refer to two completely different things…the first type is getting a loan to pay off all debts to consolidate your bills into one lower payment. If you do this, go through a local bank that you know and trust. Stay away from online firms. You need to have good credit to get this type of loan. Many people who get debt consolidation loans quickly find themselves in twice as much debt as when they started….because it’s simply too tempting to start using all that newly available credit that was paid by the consolidation loan. If you get this type of loan, contact your credit card companies and request voluntary credit limit reductions to under $1,000 to avoid this temptation.

Debt consolidation also refers to a risky practice of deliberately defaulting on your credit cards to try to force your creditors to settle for less.

Stay away from any "debt consolidation" company that promises to cut your debt and payments in half through debt settlement….This is a risky tactic of deliberately ceasing all payments to creditors and forcing your accounts into default to attempt settlements. You pay a monthly fee to a debt consolidator….this entire fee goes towards building a settlement account and to the consolidator’s fees to “settle” your accounts in the future. Your credit card companies will deliberately not be paid so that all the accounts will default/charge-off so that they can attempt settlements at around 50%. If you are current on your accounts, this process will ruin your credit rating for sure. Debt settlement is like a roll off the dice with your finances…You can never predict how your creditors will respond to the deliberate defaulting of your accounts…they might settle at 50%…or they might serve you a summons, take you to court…and if they win, you could be looking at wage garnishment.

Many people who sign up with “debt consolidation” firms incorrectly assume that they have the power to force your creditors to accept settlements…they don’t. Your creditors have the right to refuse settlements and take you to court.good move. Credit card consolidation will make your life a bit easier, the only take is you will have to learn and be knowledgeable about financial interests. Apply to all the banks that offer this, and compare who’s the lowest interest rate and use it.

Need more information? Find information on credit card counseling services

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