finance help: I have not so good credit and need to consolidate my debt ASAP. - Help.com

Talk to a financial counselor in your area.

Yes, littlenick’s advice is the best. Individual circumstances make a big difference, and we are not financially sophisticated enough to provide professional-level advice here.

Are you familiar with your credit report and what makes it “not so good”? Do you have a plan for repairing it?

Nobody is having luck with the banks right now.

Consolidation is one approach, but there are other. You may be able to reduce your debt by negotiating with your creditors (although the forgiven debt becomes imputed income on which you must pay taxes in most countries). There are other approaches too. A financial counselor help you select the best options for you.

Have you looked at your credit report?

If you just want a place to explore options online, look at lendingtree.com. However, if you haven’t read and understood your full credit report yet, you should do that first.

Since you are in the US, see this page for info on getting you credit reports from each of the three major credit rating agencies for free:
http://www.ftc.gov/freereports

Your credit score is good to know, but do you know that you have three credit scores (one from Experian, one from Transunion, and one from Equifax)? These scores can be very different from one another, even though they all attempt to measure the same thing.

Your full credit report (from each of the three credit reporting agencies) can provide you with more information about WHY your credit score from that agency is what it is, and what you can do to improve it. This is important information for making a financial plan.

If you think you would need some help understanding your credit reports, try someplace like MyFico.com (which is run by the people who own Equifax). For a fee, MyFico.com will provide additional information and tools for analyzing and interpreting your credit reports, and even monitor your score at Equifax and tell you when it changes, and what events may have caused it to change.

It sounds like a tough transition. What kinds of debt do you have? Credit cards, mortgage, car loans, student loans, other?