Credit Card Consolidation Basics

By Jim Banks - Jul 23, 2009

Credit card debt consolidation is a term that gets thrown around on TV a lot. Once you understand what debt consolidation is and how it is accomplished, it is very likely you can accomplish the same goals and get the same benefits without paying anyone an excessive fee.

The reason debt consolidation services have sprung into existence is that with the challenges in the economy like unemployment and the prices of so many of life's necessities going higher and higher, many people are spreading their debt over many cards. The result is that an average person might have three or more cards with high debt run up on each of them. Because of this the interest fees being charged on a monthly basis by the credit card companies can get quite high and spiral out of control.

The first point of credit card debt consolidation is to get all of your debt into one master account. Then, as soon as you can, get rid of the credit cards, then close the credit card accounts entirely and try to get a reasonable interest rate on the master  account, and you can deal with this one account over time.

One tactic that is often used to move your debt to lower rate interest loans is to use 0% offers from credit card companies. That is fine, but be careful with those because sometimes there are hidden transfer fees that can be as high as interest payments.

If you can move several thousand dollars to a zero percent loan for six months, then do so, but make sure you work on paying off higher interest cards.

Be sure and read the small print on the 0% credit card contract because at the end of your "free" period the interest rate on that new card account can oftentimes be higher than any of your other credit card interest rates.

Start a diary of your debt where you document each card you have, what the interest rate is, what your credit limit is and what your minimum payments are and when those payments need to be made during the month.

This diary will tell you which credit cards need the most attention and where you should look forward to consolidating two credit cards into one or all of them into the one credit source that you feel you can work for the long term.

By working with that partner you can make a plan to consolidate your credit card debt and get rid of it once and for all.