The advantage of a debt consolidation repayment plan is that it prevents your creditors from harassing you as long as you go on making lower monthly payments. The drawback of the debt consolidation repayment plan is that all your credit cards are cancelled. You have to make the first payment for the program and an extra fee is levied every month. This fee can range from $10-$50 for all your creditors while others charge $5 for every creditor. This will set you back by about $30 each month that you would have otherwise used to repay your debt.

Check nfcc.org for listings legit non-profit credit counseling services. They can help you set up a budget and work out clearing up your debt.

You can tackle your debt yourself by putting every extra penny on the highest interest rate debt, while making minimum payments on the rest. When the highest is paid, move to the next, till they are all paid off.

It will take 2 or 3 years but if you work at it, you’ll be out of debt with a good payment history.

These days, i think if you don’t hit the lottery, being debt free is a rough while having a comfortable life.