Debt Consolidation Tips - Consolidate Your Debt Today

Most Americans these days are wading through a pool of debt. In fact, some studies show that the average American is carrying around $20,000 in debt. This is frustrating and can be enough to throw you into bankruptcy or bad credit city! You may want to consider some serious debt consolidation. Here are some of the best debt consolidation tips that you can use to help lower your debt and payments.

Home Equity Loan

One great way to consolidate your debt is to get a home equity loan that is enough to cover the entire amount of all of your credit card debt. Sure, you will have to pay a payment every month, but chances are you will have to pay a lower payment than you are paying with your credit cards or other debt payments. The other benefit is that you will only have one single payment to worry about and your credit cards will be paid off. This is a great way to ensure the maintenance of your good credit score and will be an easier bill to pay each month.

Bank Loan

You can also approach your bank in order to try and get a loan to cover the debt on your credit card or other debt payments. It is likely that you can get a lower payment than your other bills combined, and of course, you will only have one payment to make each month rather than several. The thing you need to watch for when it comes to a bank loan is the interest. If your interest is at a fair rate, by all means go for it. However, if the interest will be higher than most of your debt payment interest, you may want to consider other avenues to pursue debt consolidation.

Many banks are now offering programs that are designed to help their members pay off credit card loans. Through these programs, you can get special terms. One of these terms may include a lower interest rate than a typical loan, or even lower than what you're paying to your creditors through the several bills that you pay monthly. If you want to avoid taking a loan, you may want to approach your bank and find out if they have a program like this that you can take advantage of.

Debt Consolidation Organizations

There are many not-for-profit debt consolidation organizations that you can go through in order to consolidate your debt. They work like this - you give them your monthly credit card and other debt payment statements and they pay your creditors. Then, you will pay them back just like a loan. The benefits include getting a lower interest rate, a lower payment and a longer period of time to pay back the loan. Of course, along with that, you are able to maintain a good credit rating by having your payments all paid off. This can be a great way to consolidate your debt.

Having a ton of payments to pay every month can be a real pain in the neck. Just the interest rates on these loans can be enough to slowly push you further and further into debt until you are struggling to breathe. By utilizing the avenues above, you can effectively consolidate your debt and feel free from the wading pool of debt.