These days there’s so much talk about debt management and sometimes it’s hard to separate fact from fiction. There are three main facts to know about debt consolidation.
1. Debit consolidation is going to help you pay down your debt. It will not pay your debt for you. You still have to do the hard work of making sure that bill gets paid. What a third party, like Genus credit counseling, will do for you is help you pool your unsecured debt into one lump payment. That is really all there is to it. It’s about helping you get a handle on high interest rate credit card bills and medical bills. Both of those kinds of debt are considered unsecured debt. That means that, unlike a mortgage or a car loan, there is nothing of value backing up the loan. Getting rid of unsecured debt should be your highest priority. 
2. Don’t go in to debt with consolidators. There are unscrupulous debt consolidators out there who charge high fees to “help” you. Don’t pay their high fees! Many churches sponsor debt classes and christian debt consolidators might charge low fees and offer some counseling on the side. Even if you don’t go to church, christian consumer credit counseling could be a free or low-cost way for you to get the help you need. Some consolidators will offer a negotiation service. This can be very helpful if you have a poor debt-to-income ratio. In other words, if you don’t make enough money and don’t think you’ll ever be able to pay off the full amount of debt, you may be able to get the credit card companies to settle for less money. You can do this negotiation yourself, so don’t pay anything for this service. If it is free, or part of the counseling package, then use it, otherwise do the work yourself.
3. Don’t think that bankruptcy is your only option. The news is filled with stories of foreclosures and bankruptcies. Don’t let that color your ideas about how you can get out from under this debt. You will hear that bankruptcy is the only way to legally eliminate credit card debt and that is just not true. Consolidate all of those crippling debts into a single monthly payment. Pay the amount or a little more, on time every month and you will pay off the debt. The best thing about paying off the debt instead of having it legally wiped away is that you will grow as a person and that person will never carry debt again.
If you remember these three things about the process of debit consolidation, you are on the road to recovering your financial freedom. It won’t be quick and it won’t be easy, but you will have the satisfaction of a job well done.
