Credit counseling often involves negotiating with creditors to establish a debt management plan (DMP) for a consumer.

A DMP may help the debtor repay his or her debt by working out a repayment plan with the creditor. DMPs, set up by credit counselors, usually offer reduced payments, fees and interest rates to the client. Credit counselors refer to the terms dictated by the creditors to determine payments or interest reductions offered to consumers in a debt management plan.

Debt consolidation is an option that entails taking out one loan to pay off many others.

This is often done to secure a lower interest rate, secure a fixed interest rate or for the convenience of servicing only one loan. Debt consolidation can simply be from a number of unsecured loans into another unsecured loan, but more often it involves a secured loan against an asset that serves as collateral, which is most commonly a house.

Debt Consolidation can be helpful by reducing the interest rate on the loans when they are combined. The reduced interest rate is based on the security of the loan and the borrowers credit history. For borrowers that have been struggling and are not able to meet their obligations, debt consolidation can be a very costly option. Ask yourself, do you want to continue to get out of debt or do you want to put your home or vehicle on the line when you are already struggling? Contact us for a free, no obligation debt analysis to see what option is best for you.