A Little Advice When Looking For A Debt Consolidation Company

It's difficult not to notice the incredible growth that there has been in companies offering debt consolidation programs and solutions over the past few years. At first, debt consolidation companies were some of the biggest advertisers on the internet, and there is now more loan consolidation TV commercials than we've ever seen before. However, a significant number of these debt consolidation companies are now being sued by numerous attorney generals, the IRS, and the FTC over their supposed ‘non-profit’ status.

One of the worst debt consolidation companies has actually had a federal lawsuit filed against it, and the FTC and five individual states have filed separate lawsuits against the enterprise. This company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but the reality is that they have not gone out of business themselves, they have only changed into so many other companies that they are most likely around in some form.

Interestingly, many companies do not call themselves ‘debt consolidation companies’ anymore because of the bad press that all of the legal action against this first company generated. You may hear of ‘debt negotiation’ businesses or ‘debt settlement’ companies who are basically ‘debt consolidation companies’ who are using illegal tactics and should be avoided.

You can check out any debt consolidation companies, or any other company for that matter, with your local consumer protection agency and the Better Business Bureau in the company's location. Be aware that debt consolidation companies with an excellent rating may mean absolutely nothing. In fact, over 75% of the complaints received by the Better Business Bureau do not count against the company's rating if the complaint is considered resolved. The Better Business Bureau has no authority to investigate complaints against debt consolidation companies, nor resolve them.

One particular word of advice is to avoid any debt consolidation companies who have a registered address in Maryland or Florida. This is because these two states do not regulate debt consolidation companies. There are so many debt consolidation companies available that if you really feel that this is the best course of action for you then avoiding those in Maryland or Florida should be simple and will save you the worry of dealing with a disreputable organization.

You can find many websites that offer a customer review section for debt consolidation companies. This is worth checking out to see if clients of any of the debt consolidation companies that you are considering signing up with have had problems dealing with them in the past.

What Is Credit Card Debt Consolidation

Credit card debt  seems to be the most talked-about term in the world of credit cards. Its true that credit cards have been very useful and convenient for us and we, in fact, treat the credit cards as a necessity. However, with every good you have evil too. In the world of credit cards, Credit card debt is that evil and Credit card debt consolidation is often regarded as a medicine for treating credit card debt.

Anyone who has read any newspaper articles on Credit card debt would already know what credit card debt consolidation is. However, just for the benefit of others, credit card debt consolidation, in simple terms, is the process of consolidating debt which you hold on various high APR credit cards onto just one low APR credit card. Thus, the main benefit of credit card debt consolidation is realized in terms of APR reduction (and hence reduction in credit card debt growth rate). This is touted as the most important benefit (and sometimes the sole benefit) from credit card debt consolidation. However, credit card debt consolidation comes with few more benefits as well. Some of these credit card debt consolidation benefits are widely publicized by the credit card suppliers and some not so much:

1. Initial APR: As mentioned above, lower APR is the biggest benefit from credit card debt consolidation. Since credit card debt consolidation is used by credit card suppliers as a tool to attract consumers, they generally offer a 0% APR for a initial period of 6-9 months of you joining their credit card debt consolidation program i.e. first few months after you get the new credit card.

2. Standard APR: Lower standard APR (i.e. the long term APR) is the other important benefit from credit card debt consolidation. Though not all credit card suppliers offer a lower standard APR with credit card debt consolidation some do design credit card debt consolidation program with good standard APR. These credit card debt consolidation program offer a trade-off between initial and standard APR rates.

3. 0% on purchases: This is another common benefit from credit card debt consolidation. The 0% interest (or some lower percentage) on purchases is offered as an incentive for credit card debt consolidation. This credit card debt consolidation benefit is again applicable only for a short period.

4. Easy management: This credit card debt consolidation benefit is not as discussed as others. However, one benefit of credit card debt consolidation (from multiple to single credit card) is the fact that you need to track and manage a lesser number of credit cards.

5. Other benefits: The credit card debt consolidation exercise might bring you some more benefits in terms of rebates, discounts and reward points (especially if you move to a co-branded card as part of credit card debt .