Depth in debt? Most people in America are, some just tend to hide it better than others. The average household is estimated to be between $7,000 and $18,000 in a hole with credit cards and loans.

Many people stay in dept either because they spend more than they make or they are just making minimum payments on their credit cards. These minimum payments are designed to keep you paying that high interest rate for as long as possible.

Determine your ability to pay. If your total payments are much more than you can afford, you are in trouble. You may need to contact a non profit credit counseling agency. They can be located in your local phone book or online. However, be careful of companies that want an up front fee. Check with your local Better Business Bureau for recommendations.

Next you need to make a commitment to stop getting further into debt. Cut up your extra credit cards or have another family member outside your household (whom you can trust) hold on to your cards. Ask yourself before you make a purchase, "Am I really in need of this," nine times out of ten you will find yourself putting it back. Postpone purchases, cancel subscriptions. Anything to free up more money to pay off your debts. In most cases debt consolidation is the best way out when compared to bankruptcy.

The benefits of a debt consolidation program are:

* Elimination or reduction of past interest and penalty: For example, if you have borrowed $3000 five years ago, you might owe the credit card company $6000 today. A debt consolidation program eliminates the $3000 dollars in interest and penalty charges. Now you need to pay back only $3000.

* Consolidation of Credit Cards: For example if you have five credit cards, you need to keep track of and pay 5 bills every month. Once you participate in a debt consolidation program all your accounts will be consolidated into one account. So now, you will need to pay only one bill each month.

* Reduction of Average interest rate on the total amount: For example if you have five credit cards, the highest interest rate might be 19% and the lowest interest rate might be 9%. When you go through the debt consolidation program the interest rate on the consolidated account is much lower. The consolidated account might have an interest rate of only 9%. Hence, your average interest rate is reduced significantly.

* Acquiring a payment plan depicting your payment abilities: For example, you may be going through a difficult time in your life and you can pay only $150 per month. Then your payment plan will require you to pay only $150 each month.

Staying with the program will help you become debt free sooner. In other cases you need a minimum period of 12 15 years to get over debt sunk conditions. Whereas with debt consolidation programs it takes you only around 3 5 years on an average to get debt free. Once you find yourself out of debt you will be walking on water, rather than choking it.

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