My husband and I racked up a large amount of debt. Our reasoning was we could afford the payments. Then the credit card companies jacked up the interest rates to 29% and would not tell us why (probably due to the large debt we owed). Over a couple of years I would call all the companies and ask them to lower the interest rate and they wouldn't. We continued to pay,never being late and never missing a payment. We were getting nowhere on the principal because our entire payment was going to interest. I called again. The representative told me the ONLY way they would lower the interest is if we missed a payment. Once we missed a payment they would refer us to a debt consolidation company. They (Chase) only worked with one company. I told the representative that I didn,t want to miss a payment. He said that was the only way they would lower our interest rate. I asked how low the would lower it to and they said 6%. we didn't want to miss a payment but at 6% we could actually start reducing the actual debt. So we missed one payment. That was 5 years ago. We were referred to Novadebt in NJ and they were absolutely wonderful. They always treated us with respect. We paid off over $100,000 in debt in 5 years . It was NOT easy. There were times we lived in substandard housing to make sure we could pay that monthly debt. We had two incomes, no children in tHe home so that helped. But, I will say every month one more payment was made, the debt lowered and it is now PAID IN FULL! It is such a liberating feeling. The debt consolidation did not hurt our credit. We have been able to buy a car and a very nice house. Good luck in your decision.