4 Ways To Optimize Your Debt Consolidation Plan

Debt consolidation can be a wonderful tool that can create great benefits for you when you are trying to settle your credit card debt.  Individuals with high credit card debt or numerous debts across several cards and loans should consider debt consolidation as a way to better manage their money and have their potential payback reduced.  But it's not always best to consolidate all your debts, nor is it wise to consolidate haphazardly.  Consolidation can be a powerful tool, but check out the following tips to help you make wise decisions about debt settlement.

1. Find the best company to work with.  There are numerous debt settlement companies and banks out there, and they are not all equal.  This is not a one-size-fits all industry.  Look for a company that will meet your individual needs, and above all, make sure you can trust them.  There are a lot of scams and fraudulent companies in the debt settlement field.  Find the best company to work with before you even get started.

2. Understand your own debt.  While a debt consolidation loan often comes at a comparatively low interest rate, there are times when the consolidated rate will actually be higher than the rate some of your debts currently have.  This is often the case with student loans, which have low interest.  If you are planning to consolidate your debts, check to see if you have any loans or debt at a lower interest rate than the rate that the debt settlement company is offering.  If you do, simply ignore those loans and only consolidate the high interest rate loans.  It would be pointless to increase the rate of a loan you're already paying low interest on.

4. The same is true of credit cards.  If you plan to keep one or two of your credit cards, keep the ones with the lowest interest rates.  This may seem obvious, and your debt settlement company will likely advise you in this direction, but you need to be careful either way.  It could be a costly mistake to hang onto the wrong credit card line when there is another that might suit you better.  Get rid of high-interest-rate credit cards.

3. After looking at interest rates, look at outstanding balances.  Try to consolidate the loans or credit lines that have the highest outstanding balances, as these will rack up more interest faster.  A higher balance always equals higher interest payments.  Get rid of high balances before attacking low balances.

With these tips in mind, you will be well equipped to begin the debt consolidation process.  Find a good company.  Understand your debt.  Tackle loans with high interest rates and high balances first.  From there, the rest is downhill.