The first step in credit card debt consolidation or any debt consolidation in fact, is establishing a plan or a way forward. The starting point is your plan, and resignation to the fact that your debt consolidation plan is not going to complete overnight, it is going to take time, so take it day by day and don’t be hard on yourself.

One can utilize the debt consolidation process as a source of personal motivation, to apply the discipline of sticking to your formulated plan, as well as a source of inspiration to attempt to complete the process before the target date. Issues that you can concentrate on in order to remain motivated or even increase your motivation is by considering the interest rates that are charged. When calculating your debt consolidation plan, take the time to calculate all the interest, in real money terms, that you have paid and will be paying to get out of your current debt situation. It can be startling to say the least; one could have used all the money spent on interest charges to establish a savings account for that special holiday or even as an emergency fund; had one of course not delved into the full amount of available credit. Granted you may have had emergencies, but the most valuable insight here is that you have identified the fact that you need to establish a debt consolidation plan and it will have a very positive and constructive impact upon your life in general.

A trap that a lot of people fall into is to take on further debt to consolidate existing debt; this may not be the wisest route to explore on your debt consolidation process. It appears as if everything is under control in one specific account, and there is a single payment to be made every week or month, whichever the case may be. The major problem with this is that one will be tempted by the existing paid up credit cards, which were incorporated into the new debt, as well as the offer of new credit cards. Should you elect to take this option or route, you will have to be firmly committed to your decision of avoiding spending on these paid up accounts.

One should rather negotiate with your creditors for reduced interest rates and stick to your debt consolidation plan, to realize your goal of being debt free. Credit Card debt consolidation can be an extremely rewarding experience once you have achieved the debt consolidation plan goals and objectives; it merely takes discipline, commitment and self motivation.