Consolidate Credit Card Debt - Even If You Have Bad Credit

As I am writing this article, it is said that over 70% of American families are struggling in some shape or form with their monthly credit card payments. So, it really comes as no surprise that the amount of people looking for a way to consolidate credit card debt is on the rise.

Here's the deal though, it isn't as easy as it sounds.

By the time the typical consumer decides to get some sort of "help" - in this case, trying to consolidate credit card debt, it is usually too late. Unfortunately, in most cases, people don't realize that their credit card debt is out of control until they have been late for several months, or even worse, not made any payments for several billing cycles.

When this happens, the consumers credit score obviuosly suffers, right? So, especially in this economy, it is hard to get another credit card company or even a local bank to agree to consolidate your credit card debt because your credit score no longer justifies a new or larger line of credit.

So, the question is, what can you do?

For starters, you should start thinking outside the box a little bit! Did you know that you can effectively consolidate your credit card debt without taking out a new loan, getting a new credit card, or establishing a new credit line? Well, you can and it is a tool that more and more people have been turning to in order to take control of their finances, more specifically their unsecured debt.

The way that people do this is by leveraging non-profit organizations that have been formed specifically to help consumers with their unsecured credit card debt. The best part is that they communicate directly with your creditors so that you no longer have to deal with collection calls, or abusive credit card company employees. Good deal, right?

Here is a brief run down of how exactly it works.

First, you would need to do the responsible thing and contact one of these organizations. Once you let them know your situation and that you want to consolidate your credit card debt, they will collect a small amount of information from you.

Generally they will need the name of the card companies you owe, what the balance is, and what the minimum monthly payment is. What they do with this information is to consolidate your debt internally. Because most of these organizations have been around for a while, they have established relationships with many if not all of the credit card companies that you are looking to consolidate.

Due to their non-profit status, the companies that you owe money to are more likely to give concessions in the form of interest rate reductions, monthly payment reductions, and in some cases they are willing to forgive part of the principal balance. If you think it sounds too good to be true, it's not. Organizations that provide this service have been around for over a decade and are in most cases granted a non-profit status because the service that they provide is "socially beneficial".

Once the "formalities" are taken care of, you will be told your new combined monthly payment. Once a month you will send your payment to the non-profit company and they will in turn disperse your funds to your differnt creditors. So, at this point, not only do you no longer have to deal with the credit card companies, but you have for all intents and purposes found a way to consolidate credit card debt even if you have a poor credit score or just down and dirty bad credit.

The most important thing you need to do right now if you want to consolidate your credit card debt is to take action. I say this because once your accounts get too out of control, meaning charged off or even placed into some sort of legal status, there is little that any person or organization can do to help you, non-profit or not. So, if you are struggling with your monthly payments and want an alternative that is safe, legal, and effective, you should definitely take a look at this type of consolidation as an option.