There is nothing worse than being in debt to lots of different companies at once. When demands for money appear through your letter box from people that you can barely even remember, then, as Carol Vorderman and Phil Tufnell never tire of telling us, it may be worth consolidating all of them in to one easy monthly payment. After all, if you can't trust a game show girl and a former England spinner to give you financial advice, who can you trust?



Now obviously this sort of scheme does have its disadvantages. Critics always point out that it is akin to robbing Peter to pay Paul, and they are of course right. What the critics forget though is that is often easier to rob Peter to pay Paul, than it is to pay Paul, his brother Mark, Linda and the kids, the girls on reception, and everyone down the Red Lion on a Tuesday night.

A secured loan offers a good way of making this happen by shifting all your debt into one place. This may mean transferring it from several credit cards or an overdraft facility ? both of which often charge high interest rates. Having several credit cards will of course mean you will have lots of bills coming in which can often be stressful and frustrating. This makes it difficult to keep track of all your outgoings, and can also lead to complications when you try to arrange payment. If there is one thing banks love it is forms, and the more banks you become involved with, the more forms are likely to come your way.

A personal loan can seem like an easy was to make your simpler and more organized, especially with fixed direct debit payments that leave your account with little or no effort on your part. However, they are not always the quick fix no strings attached solution that they can appear.

Taking out a larger loan to cover your debts commits you to a long term plan of repayments which in the end will ultimately add up to more interest. Making manageable and effortless monthly payments may make you feel like you have more cash, but in the long term this in unlikely to be true. You may end up with a little extra in your account at the end of each month this is only money you will be paying back later. Lenders are not offering you money out of the goodness of their own heart and they will not give you a deal that is going to cost them money.

Consolidating your debt into one loan is not always wrong. But you do have to ask yourself whether you are prepared to pay out a lot of extra money simply to enjoy a quiet life. Make sure you explore all other avenues first, and remember that it is definitely worth trying to get yourself a zero per cent interest credit card deal if all you want to do is take the pressure off for a few months.