This impending year is going to be tough for our economy with many consumers over their heads with credit card debt so many people are looking to consolidate debt loans. When the majority of individuals start to look for a way to manage their credit card debt they usually try and take out a loan to clump it all into one payment. This is not a bad thought if you are currently able to pay your minimum payments plus some because it can make life simpler when it comes to paying the monthly bills.

But if you are not able to keep up with the payments chances are you more than likely will not obtain any debt consolidation loans even if they are secured by a home. Reason being the majority of debtors think that they have decent credit because they have been on time. But they don’t understand that the largest issue when obtaining a loan is their debt to credit limit ratio, so if your total outstanding debt goes over 50% of your total credit limit more than likely you won’t have the ability to get any debt consolidation loans. If you have already fallen behind then chances are that if you were able to find a loan to consolidate your debt the interest rate could be so unreasonably high that it would’nt make any sense doing it.

The more applications that you submit for approval will decrease your credit rating up to 5 to 10 points for each one so after only trying with 4 or 5 banks your credit rating could be lowered by 50 or more points diminishing your chances close to zero for getting your loan.

If you are like millions of consumers that discover staying current with the monthly payments on bills such as credit cards is going to be extremely difficult than you should consult a honest debt settlement company. If you qualify you may be able to save up to 50% of what your current debt balance is in as little as three years.

Steve Bis is a credit card debt analyst with the US Consumer Advocate, which practices in credit card debt settlement.

- Steve Bis