If you have overwhelming debt and want to get away from paying several high interest payments you might be considering debt consolidation, where you will combine all your loans and make one monthly payment. There are good and bad points to doing something like this.  Most debt consolidation companies will charge you a fee to do this. You will pay them a set amount each month, and they in turn will disperse the money to you creditors.  A percentage of the money you pay each month will be taken by the company for their services. While you may pay a lower payment monthly, it is going to take you a longer amount of time to pay off the loans. They will tell you that they can negotiate a lower rate of interest for you with the company you owe money to. Actually, this is something that you can do with a simple phone call, so why pay someone to do what you can do yourself? Most companies are willing to work with you if you explain your situation. Research shows that the following is a list of what is rated as the "top " debt consolidation companies. They are: Federal Credit Unions, Amalgamated Credit Counseling Services, American Debt Consolidation, Credit Solutions of America, Debt Management Credit Counseling Corp.,Debt Guru.com, and Bills.com.  Do your own checking before you decide on a company to do business with. Many of them will require to sign over you home as collateral, and if you can't make your payments, you will be in danger of losing your house! There are literally hundreds of these companies out there, some legit, and some not so.  Choose carefully.