Rolling all of your debts into a single loan is a good idea - in theory. In fact, it can be a great idea.

You fall a bit behind on a credit card bill, your interest rate soars, your minimum payment rises, and you start falling more and more behind every month. You don't see an end. But you don't want to file bankruptcy either. What you can do - and should do - is negotiate.

You really don't need to hire a debt settlement company to negotiate with your creditors.

In fact, the bigger the bill, the less likely you are to spend it. If you want to really save money, spend only cash and carry only fifty-dollar bills.

Rolling all of your debts into a single loan is a good idea - in theory. In fact, it can be a great idea.

In about one-third of credit card consolidations, within a short period of time, the cards come back out of the wallet, and in no time at all, they're charged back up. Then you're in an even worse position, because you have the credit card debt and the consolidation loan to worry about. You're in a hole that's twice as deep - and twice as steep.

Take the cards out of your wallet. A debit card is accepted just about everywhere that credit cards are, and you'll be spending money you have - always a good thing.