When is it time to consolidate your debt credit? It is time when you have more than five credit cards that are late, becoming late, or in danger of being late. You don't want mess around with your credit waiting. Bad credit can mean that when you really want to make a big purchase like a car or a house, you will not have the credit to get the loan. Just a couple of payments behind on one of your credit cards can cause you to loose points on your credit rating. You need to keep the rating points up because you never know when you will need the rating for an emergency or a unexpected expense. It is time foe debt consolidation.
If you are constantly paying the roulette game of paying off one credit card bill and then waiting a month or so while you pay off another, you are in need to consolidate your debt credit. You can consolidate on your own or you can go to a credit counseling agency. If you decide to do it for yourself, you need to find the credit card with the highest limit and the lowest interest rate. This may take a little investigation because you probably threw away the credit card agreements or you have filed them away with all the bills and statements you have received. If you cannot find the agreements, call the company and find out exactly how much you can put on your card and how much you are being charged each month in huge interest fees.
Once you find this magical card that gives you both of the goals you searched for, you need to transfer the balances on all your cards to that one. You may even get an incentive for transferring the balances. Another idea you might want to consider with consolidating your credit debt is to look for a new card. Many new cards will offer you interest free credit for sometimes up to a year if you transfer your balances to them. Just ask. Even if they don't advertise it the employees may be allowed to offer you a lower or no interest for a certain amount of time.
If you don't feel secure consolidating your credit debt on your own, you might want to try a credit debt consolidation company. This business will make deals with your credit card companies to lower your monthly payments and at the same time give you a lower interest rate. If you are endanger of going into default on your credit cards, the credit card companies want you to pay and are willing to make a new contract with the credit debt consolidators so that you are able to pay. Most credit debt consolidation companies will set you on a three to five year repayment schedule. This will allow you to make lower payments and only write one check to pay off all the credit debt companies. The credit debt counseling companies will send you one bill and then pay off your credit cards as they become due.