The promise of getting out of debt easily and quickly is indeed enticing. There are numerous debt consolidation professionals, companies and “non-profit” organizations that promise to consolidate your credit card debts into one easy monthly payment, reduce your interest rates, and get you out of debt. But are they worth their salt?

Just what is “Credit card debt consolidation”? Why is it such an important topic?

Dictionary.com defines the word “consolidate” as, “to bring together (separate parts) into a single or unified whole; unite; combine.

“Credit card debt consolidation” refers to:

1) Consolidation of the debt on various credit cards into a single credit card (or a couple of credit cards) at a lower interest rate. This can also be referred to as balance transfer.

2) Borrowing of money by use of collateral such as a mortgage or home equity loan and using it to pay off your credit cards, with or without enlisting the service of a professional, organization or company. In this case, you’re left with just one payment to make - the money you borrowed to pay off your debts.

3) Enlisting the help of an intermidiary such as credit counselor, agency, organization or company to consolidate your credit card debts into one monthly payment and negotiate lower interest rate(s) on your behalf.

Credit card debt consolidation seems like a good way of tackling the problem of credit card debt. But there are upsides and downsides as well as the good, the bad and the downright ugly. This is subject of a future post.

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