The introduction of plastic money and a tremendous acceptance of the same among both business organizations and consumers have given rise to a situation where consumer debt today has touched an all time high. And as the consumer debt grows there is a parallel growth of consumer debt advice services also.

The growth in the numbers of consumer debt services has both its advantages and drawbacks. While there are quite few extremely efficient and resourceful services which really put in their best to pull their clients out of their consumer debt, there are also a few who are here in the disguise of a consumer debt advice service, but would just want to make more money. They will care little about their clients and their welfare. And it is this group of service providers that give a bad name to the entire industry and the better players have to fight public criticism and cynicism to establish themselves.

Before you go to any credit counselor it is advisable that you do your own homework. Take a piece of paper and write down on it everything you owe. And by everything we mean everything. No matter how small a particular debt is. You have to factor that in and as you make the spreadsheet make some columns under which you enter the figures. The columns should include whom you owe the money, how much you owe, what are your monthly installments etc.

Then make a separate spreadsheet where you write down all the sources of income you have. See what is the difference between what is coming in and what needs to go out. If that difference is not that great then you can think of taking up a part time job for the period of repayment of the loan and handle the matter by yourself.

If the gap you think is manageable with a little help from the creditors then don't hesitate to call them up. They are often ready to make some minor concessions to help you repay you loan. In fact the credit card companies have an undisclosed policy of helping their clients when they are in need.

Try and negotiate with your creditors to allow you more time, or lower the interest rates somewhat so that repayment becomes feasible for you. Rather than dragging you to court these institutions will much rather have a part of their money. They would hardly want you to go bankrupt.