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After getting off the phone with my brother, I am a little bit depressed. He has always lived high on the hog and now he is in over his head. He and his wife have been spending a lot of money and now that his business has slowed down, their bills exceed their monthly income by a lot. He talked to me about debt consolidation and the fact that he thought it was his only option before his credit is ruined forever.

I encouraged him. In the past, I myself got in over my head with my bills and I turned to a debt consolidation company for help, and it was a wonderful experience. I know that for me, it alleviated a lot of the stress that being in debt had put me under. I told him how they had me get all my bills together and they worked with me on my income and my other expenses to come up with a realistic monthly payment that I could afford. Now, don't get me wrong, it only puts all your bills together. They did cut down the interest rate, and stopped some of the charges that they kept billing me for, keeping the balance down as I paid. Your credit doesn't get better immediately, but over time, as long as you make your bill payments on time, you will rebuild your credit. In my case, it took me about 3 years to get all my debt paid off, but it was definitely worth it. I did get my credit back and under control. The debt consolidation company also told me the best way to use my credit for the best results on my credit score. They also told me what I could afford to spend on credit each month, so that I wouldn't dig myself another hole after working so hard to get out from under my debt. The great thing about it was, I never got another bill collector hollering at me on the phone again. There was no more harassment about missed payments or responsibilities, and I could freely answer my phone without the panic of who was going to be on the other end of the phone.

I really hope that my brother takes my advice and gets help now, before it is too late. The idea of debt consolidation may be embarrassing to him, but honestly destroying his credit will be worse for him in the long run, I am just sure of it.