ok...typical debt consolidators do this:

1. they call your credit card companies and request lower interest rates. many times ccc's run promos, but they don't tell you. you can just as easily call yourself several times a month and ask for your rate to be lowered.

2. these debt cons then have you pay down your balance at a set monthly payment. typically, they have you cut up your cards and close out your accounts. this is bad news, because ccc's don't like you cancelling your account. this will show negatively on your credit report.

3. debt cons work dif ways. some may pay off the debts themselves, and then they give you one big loan to pay them back. others may simply have you send them one big check, and they break it up into smaller pieces to pay off individual ccc's. again, these cases usually involve you cancelling your ccc's. this messes you up two ways: a) those ccc's will be less likely to give you a cc in the near future; b) any other company that looks at your credit report will see a low rating (i.e. other ccc's, auto loan co's. or mortgage co's.)



if you want to pay off your debt yourself, here are some tips:

1. call your ccc's and ask if they're running a promo for a lower interest. like i said before, they usually don't tell you about it, but have specials all througout the month.

2. be careful with balance transfers. i only bal-tran on offers with NO TRANSFER FEE. this can be 2%, and is just stupid. also, be careful that the new card doesn't end up with a higher rate after the promo period. for example, i have a citibank promo which was 'no transfer fee, 3.9% until balance is paid.' other promos are '3.9% until Nov. 2003' then the fine print says it will become 12.9% in Dec. 2003. This of course will depend on what your rate is now.

3. Here's a tip to paying off your balances quickly (esp. if you like paying the minimum due):

• figure out how much you can pay each month for ALL your cc's. (let's say $500)


• arrange your statements in order of interest rates (highest to lowest).


• take your highest interest rate statement.


• now, for all the other cards, pay the minimum only.


• what's left from your 'monthly payment' ($500), pay towards the highest interest rate card


• when that card is paid off, do the same with the next highest interest rate. don't change your $500 monthly payment. that way, whereas you may have originally paid $30 towards the 2nd card, you're now paying $30 plus the money that originally went towards card #1.

that's all i can think of for now. feel free to ask more questions...and i hope it works out.