Will debt consolidation help or hurt your financial situation?
When you have multiple loans and credit card balances, looking for debt consolidation help may seem like a good idea. After all, a debt consolidation plan is designed to combine multiple debts into a single loan at a lower rate than your existing loans and credit cards, helping you to save money on interest.
But will debt consolidation help you pay off your debt faster? That’s not always clear. If you’re deeply in debt and your credit rating has taken a hit, you may not qualify for the low interest rates that provide the kind of debt consolidation help you need. You’ll likely pay some extra money to take out a new loan, making your debt even higher. And if you haven’t taken steps to address the choices or situations that got you into debt in the first place, you may end up owing more money than when you started considering debt consolidation help.
That’s why it’s important to talk to a credit counseling service when you’re thinking about looking for debt consolidation help. A professional credit counselor can help you sort through the pros and cons of debt consolidation for bad credit as well as a variety of other options for getting out of debt.
ACCC: free credit counseling and debt consolidation help.
American Consumer Credit Counseling (ACCC) is a non profit consumer credit counseling organization dedicated to helping individuals and families find the best path out of debt. We’ve been providing free counseling and low-cost services to consumers nationwide since 1991, and our highly trained counselors are experts at providing debt management and debt consolidation help.
When you contact ACCC for debt counseling services, you can meet with a certified credit counselor by phone or in person. Your credit counseling sessions at ACCC are always free – it’s a time for us to analyze your finances and to present you with personalized options based on your financial goals. These may include seeking debt consolidation help, or we may recommend other options such as a debt management service
Alternatives to seeking debt consolidation help.
Debt management provides a highly effective alternative to seeking debt consolidation help. Under a debt management plan, you will consolidate your monthly payments rather than consolidating your loans and bills. Each month, you’ll write a single check to ACCC, and our team will use those funds to pay your creditors on your behalf. With just one check to write each month, you’ll have less stress and we can ensure your bills are paid on time. We’ll also propose reductions in interest rates and monthly payments to your creditors, to help you pay off your debt more quickly. In the long run, a debt management plan will help you develop the kind of discipline and skills that will let you pay off your debt quickly – usually in 60 months or less – and to live life debt-free in the future.