I need help with my debt consolidation.?

I recently got married, so now we have his credit card with a large balance, my credit cards (2) have all the wedding expenses on them, and we other misc. cards for smaller amounts. The total amount we owe is about 25k. I need to know if I should go with a personal loan and what bank/cu to go with. From the research i've been doing it seems that the amount we pay for each card as a min payment each month is much much more than if we were to get a loan( of course this matters on the apr we get approved for). i have called all my card comps and lowered the apr as much as i already can. any suggestions would be great and thank you!
Additional Details
Ok so I didnt put the ENTIRE wedding on a credit card, small expenses from the wedding added up. This is a minor detail in the picture. I was wondering if people knew or have used any good banks/cu or a loan to help pay off debt. I do not want to use a debt consoliation company, I personally thing they're scams and would like to stick with someone I can trust ie a bank or credit union that wont screw me over.

Debt consolidation companies charge so you will owe more than you do now. You can do this yourself if you just have a plan. Here is a plan that works as long as you work the plan:

1. Make a budget. Make the budget a week before you get paid. A budget is not a punishment! It is a tool which will free you from ever having to worry about money again. Put everything in your budget. Especially those annual, biannual, or quarterly bills like car registration, insurance, etc. Give every dollar you are going to bring home the name of where it is going. Add an "emergency fund" category to your budget for 25 dollars and save up until you have 1000-1250 dollars. Your emergency fund will help keep you from getting into new debt because of an emergency. If you can, set up a direct transfer to a savings account for your emergency fund. That way it moves automatically and you don't even have to worry about it. You must cut your spending and live on less than you make.

2. First get current on all of you debts and make no more late payments. Stop using your credit cards immediately. Do not take on any more debt. Credit cards are like quicksand only the death is much slower. Make a list of all of your debts in order of highest interest rate to lowest interest. Use cash only for your spending from now on.

3. Pay the minimum due on all of your debts and then put your extra money towards paying off the highest interest one first. After you get that one paid off, you put the money you were paying on debt #1 (the minimum payment and the extra payment) towards debt #2. That will pay debt #2 off faster. When that is paid off, you put all three payments towards card #3 and that one will be paid off pretty quickly. As an example:

To start :
Debt #1 (highest interest): minimum payment+ extra payment
Debt #2 (middle interest): minimum payment
Debt #3(lowest interest): minimum payment

Debt #1: paid off
Debt #2: minimum payment from Debt #1+ Minimum payment from Debt #2 +extra payment
Debt #3: minimum payment

Debt #1: paid off
Debt #2: paid off
Debt #3:Mimimum payment from card #1+ minimum payment from Debt #2+ minimum payment from Debt #3+ extra payment.

That way, you will get them all paid off, on time, and pay the least interest. It will also help towards rebuilding your credit since you will no longer have any late payments. This works no matter how many different debts you may have.

4. After you get all of your debts paid off, add to your emergency fund until you have 6-12 months of income saved up. Put that emergency fund money into a liquid money market fund or into a Bank of America no-risk CD so that if you need the money you can take it out without penalty.

5a. When you have your emergency fund in place, add a category for "fun" to your budget. Save for a holiday, a vacation, a big screen, or dinners out, whatever goal you want. Remember to enjoy your life.

5b. When you have your emergency fund in place, start saving for your retirement. Join the 401(k) plan at work and contribute the maximum. You employer probably matches
at least part of your contribution so why give up free money. Open a Roth IRA and contribute the maximum on a monthly basis. If you start saving for your retirement now, you will probably retire a millionaire. If a person puts the $5000.00 maximum into a Roth IRA every year averaging a 7% rate of return then at the end of 40 years that person will have over $1 million .

just proves that the old adage is completely true, "never bite off more than u can chew."

Why don't you go talk with your local bank ? They will give you advice to get you started and the best thing is, their advice is free ;-)

My advice ? Credit cards are for short term expenses. When you start paying them off for months go for a loan.

Unfortunately for you this is the worst time to be debt.
1. Make sure you pay each card on time.
2. Do not put any more charges on your cards.
3. Go to annualcreditreport.com. You are entitled to a free credit report from all three major reporting agencies. Your credit score is not free you will have to pay for that. However, check for errors, inquires, collections and status.
4. They just changed the way the credit reporting agencies report this year. If you are over 50% of you limit, which you are, that hurts your score. It no longer hurts you to have too much credit as long as you are paying on time and not maxed out.
5. The best thing to do at this time, is to take your time and pays off as much of the debt as you can. Work on getting a couple of the cards under 50%.
6. When your credit score reaches 720 or better you will be able to consellidate a better rate.
This is going to take allot of work from you and your spouse. Cut back on eating out, buying things you do not need.

The best bet you have is to try and get a bank loan to consolidate the cards into one low payment.. THEN DONT OPEN ANOTHER CARD!!! If a bank loan is not possible, then do what my co worker does and roll the balance from one card to another with no interest...and pay as much as you can each time.

Third,,, Why in the heck did you put WEDDING expenses on a credit card? I applaud you for getting married, but did you have to join another statistic?

Michelle

go here these guys are good

go to www.agdebtconsultation.com

they do free debt consultations and they are amazing

Not all the debt consolidation companies are scam. You can take a loan from a debt consolidation company which will get you lower rate and you can pay off your debts. And the added advantage is that you can improve your credit score as the subsequent payments made are towards new loan.

Here is the debt consolidation company which I know http://ezconsolidation.com for your reference.

There are firms out there who will do all the work for you and some don't charge money as they make it from the intrest on the money you send them.. CCCS in England do it free. You pay them and they pay them All intrest rates frozen etc.

Paying on a single loan will always be more cheaper than paying on several seperate ones. Best bet is to go through a debt consolidation company - banks will be hesistant to help you out directly because you are already in debt.

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