For the person who has accumulated a significant amount of high interest debt, and who is getting behind or even defaulting in payments, employing a debt consolidator has been a popular option in the past. It sounds good, but whether or not it actually works in the long term is a big question.

The principle behind using a debt consolidator seems sound. Take all high interest debt from credit cards and other similar monthly bills, and roll them into one amount, which can be paid off with a single monthly payment. However, the more high interest debts a consumer has, the worse option this actually is. In order to pay off all the bills and make that one monthly payment, it generally requires taking out a loan. These debt consolidator loans always require security - and that means collateral in the form of a home or other expensive property. A second mortgage or a home equity type loan is the most common type.

Debt consolidator loans are risky business. They are long term and the consumer who makes a misstep in payments or defaults is in danger of losing that collateral, and the statistics of this happening are huge. With today's economy being weak and especially risky when it comes to job security, the consumer is betting that everything will continue to go right for these loans to workout.

Another problem that can arise from a debt consolidator is the harm that it can do to a credit rating. Depending on the type of scoring used in obtaining the loan, it can result in a real hit to a credit report. Since these loans are for such a long duration, it can take a long time to restore credit to a rating good enough to qualify for lower interest loans in the future.

The key to paying off debt is not a debt consolidator, but paying the unsecured loans off quickly. There are other programs that will allow outstanding bills to be bundled, and for the monthly payment to become lower, and without securing a loan to do it. The savvy consumer will investigate all of these methods before signing on a dotted line that can have them locked into a situation for years to come. Between the risk involved, and the extremely high amount of interest that is paid over the course of so many years, it just isn't a sound solution for debt relief.