Do your homework before hiring a debt consolidation business.
When you’re eager to get out of debt, you may find yourself thinking about hiring a debt consolidation business to help consolidate what you owe on various bills and loans. But before you contract a debt consolidation business, you would do well to get some objective advice about the pros and cons of consolidated loans and debt consolidation loan rates.
Not every debt consolidation business is on the up and up — there are plenty of scams that prey on desperate consumers who want to get out of debt fast. But even a legitimate debt consolidation business may not be the best choice for your financial situation. Many firms charge high fees and, depending on your credit record, you may not qualify for the low rates that make a consolidation loan worthwhile.
When you want someone to help you understand the ins and outs of the debt consolidation business, contact the professional credit counselors at American Consumer Credit Counseling (ACCC). As a nonprofit organization, we provide objective information about the debt consolidation business as well as all the other avenues available to you for paying off debt and living debt-free in the future.
Get advice on the debt consolidation business from ACCC.
At ACCC, our mission is to help consumers, individuals and families make a plan to pay off debt and to avoid debt in the future. We offer free credit counseling sessions where you can meet with a credit expert to discuss your financial situation, review all the options available to you and make a decision about whether a debt consolidation business is the right choice for you. Our counselors can also provide access to free educational materials that may help to manage money more effectively, and answer questions such as “How do I consolidate credit card debt?” and “How do I reduce debt fast?”
Debt management: a great alternative to the debt consolidation business.
Depending on your situation, your ACCC credit counselor may recommend a debt management program as an alternative to using a debt consolidation business. ACCC’s debt management program is a highly effective way of simplifying your finances and paying off your debts more quickly — usually within five years or less. Under our debt management program, you’ll make just one payment each month to us, and will pay all of your bills and creditors on time on your behalf. We’ll also seek possible reductions in finance charges and interest rates as well as over-limit fees and late fees, helping to reduce the amount you owe. In contrast to the debt consolidation business, fees for our debt management plan are quite minimal and are among the lowest in the industry.
Learn more about the debt consolidation business with ACCC, and about other options for debt consolidation for credit cards and for direct loan consolidation.
