Pay Off Debt Dues Faster. Low Interest Rates - that is the publicity.

The fact is that actually the debt consolidation company gets benefited from this one. They buy - yes buy - a lower interest rate from the company you owe money to by negotiating settlement of thousands of dollars of debt. You are charged an amount for this facility and a monthly fee thereafter.

The debt consolidation provider pays off your loan fast, you don't. You keep paying them in its place.

If you thought making regular payments by your due date was expensive, try making ONE LOW Payment per month.

These companies only buy bad debt to reduce the interest. They will buy groups of debt - thousands of dollars of debt from a company to get the lower interest rate - plus they get a percentage kickback from your financing company to reward themselves for payment of that balance due.

Debt consolidation scam fees are included in your monthly payment - So practically you pay as much as you might have if you had sent that extra payment to your financing company and paid off your higher interest rate credit card quicker by adding that increased fee to your payment every month. Actually, you pay more.

They don't re-negotiate your payment date. That means that they pay everyone's installment at the same time, once a month.

If they repay on the 15th of the month and your payment was due on the first, then your credit will carry a 30-day late payment once a month - every month-on all three of your credit information. Late payments stay on your credit history for 7 years (or more). Feeling good now, I'll bet!

That's not over. You could also be one of those people whose payments get missed once in a while - Yes it happens all the time with Debt Consolidation practices.

Negotiation is something you can do by yourself. If you just hate speaking to these people you can even authorize someone you know and trust to make a deal for a lower interest rate for you on your behalf. If you can't get anywhere negotiating with the first person you talk to, ask to talk to a supervisor. If you can't get anywhere by the third supervisor, you're trapped.

- Negotiate your own reduced Interest rate

- Extend your repayment schedule

- Pay off the highest interest debts First and add more money

- Write 2 checks: One for the least payment and One for any additional money with a word in the memo that says: "Principal Only Payment." This one simple action can save you tons of money. If you don't mention this, your money is automatically applied to the interest and you'll pay more interest for an extended period. Yeah, that really sucks, certainly not for them. For you.

- Figure out - there are freely available debt calculators all over the internet - what it would take to pay off your highest interest cards first. I connected my own and came up with the fact that if I add $60 a month to my minimum credit card repayment, I can have a $1300 debt paid in 12 months with $66 interest.

- If I continue with the minimum payment, It can take longer than 6 years and cost me over $2500. Just that one action that I took put over $1134 back in my account - in one year. And I did it myself. Without debt consolidation costs!

I don't recommend any debt consolidation company. They prey on your desperation and the doom and gloom of the length of paying out your credit cards at minimum payments.