Be careful when searching for a company that does debt consolidation, credit counseling. Make sure its a true nonprofit company and make sure they don't ask you for any upfront money. You have to do your research, check with the BBB and do a web search for an accredited national organization. There are alot of complaints being made today with the BBB, the FTC and the State attorney generals on many companies giving false and misleading information.

Many of us, like you, have learned the hard way that consolidation loans often make things worse not better.

Have you worked out a monthly budget to see how you can maximise what you can pay towards your debts each month?

Another good starting place is to start keeping a spending diary to keep track of where all your money goes.

This is a good way to track the expenditure

How much debt is it, and what kind of debt?

Be proactive and contact your creditors in advance. Be honest about your situation and what you can afford. You'll be surprised that they will work with you; reducing balance owed in some cases; especially if you indicate you have to choose between paying them or another creditor!!

Create a plan, is the first step. Write out a Statement of Affairs, or if you can't handle that, just make a list of all your debts. Prioritise which ones need to be paid off first, these will often be the biggest debts, or the debts witht he highest rate of interest. Put your bank accounts and credit cards into a free personal finance software tool to help with the calculations and tracking.

This is the first step. Once you have that plan, you have taken stock of the situation, and then you can think about counseling or consolidation if you still need it. But the first thing they are going to ask to you to anyway is a to write it all down and make a plan.

If you are already months behind on your debts. I would consult with a settlement company. Be careful though. Make sure that the settlement company that you work with does represent you in court if you are sued. If you cant make any payment then consult with an attorney for BK.

I could work with you and creating a strategy. A free resource would be to consult Dave Ramsey's baby steps, I've never heard of them not working for someone in the long run. Even if it's not so fun in the short term.

Some of these debt management companies are not that great. You would be better off going to the citizens advice bureau, they do what debt management companies do but they do it free of charge.

They should be able to sort out your problem.


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choose one of the following
1. read Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover"
2. Register for Financial Peace University through Dave Ramsey website
3. Find a Personal Financial Coach that is local and certified through Dave Ramsey

All I can say is that his method works...it is not complicated but helps you fix the problem and keep the debt away. All of those debt consolidation place just mask the issues at hand. If you want to fix this then YOU have to do something about it