Meet the Batman – Robin tandem of the 21st century. Or the New Mr. and Mrs. Tom Cruise. Or Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie if and when they ‘fess up. Today, thanks to inflation, terrorist threats, the euro going up and the dollar going down, citizens of the United States of America realize in horror that they are just a statistic in a financial report. Their horrific situation is utterly ordinary. They're broke. And what do the government have to say? Get over it and go back to work.

So that's where debt consolidation comes along. The credit card is an amazing thing because it lets you spend so much. Actually, it lets you spend money that you don't really have. But in the end, well that's when it gets tricky. Credit card bills start knocking on your door and you find yourself wondering if you really spent all that or was it your alter ego holding the credit card in a trip to Macy's. But of course it was you. And since borrowing more from your bank is totally out of the question, you have to take the next option available and that could be debt consolidation.

Debt consolidation is where you gather all your bills together, credit card bills especially because they're somehow more harrowing than the others, grab a calculator and add them all up. When you're done, you present this to the representative of a debt consolidation company and see how he or she works out everything.

Now, don't start thinking that debt consolidation is like a modern fairy godmother out to make your credit card bills disappear in one big poof. Sorry, folks but this is reality and things don't work out quite that way. Sadly, your credit card bills would remain visible and concrete, proof that you owe loads of money to several financial institutions. And that's when the debt consolidation rep you're talking to comes in. First, she'll ask you your budget and just how much you can afford right now. Debt consolidation companies have to know about their clients' financial history to be able to negotiate more competently with their clients' creditors. They have to know how much you're earning, how many credit cards you have, what loans and bills are there to be paid off etc. When that's done, these debt consolidation companies then approach the people behind the bills: the creditors, in other words. They talk to the managers behind that credit card bill staring at you so accusingly from your office desk. They ask if it's possible to give you some more leeway so you have an opportunity to continue paying them. If you go bankrupt, neither would win. Debt consolidation representatives can make the interest rates of your credit card bills lower, the monthly payments decrease, the payoff time shorten and so on.

The important thing to know before choosing this particular tandem approach however is being sure that you can really work things out this way. If you feel that using debt consolidation to pay off your debts, like credit card bills, is just like papering cracks on the walls then don't do it. You'll simply be worse off. Debt consolidation, like most things, requires determination, self-control and dedication. And if you are incapable of any of those qualities then my advice is to find another solution.