If you find you have more plastic in your wallet than you do green bills, you may find that it is time to reorganize your credit card debt.  Consolidating your debt to a credit consolidation loan may save you a hefty amount of money in interest.  If you do this correctly, you will be able to consolidate your debt and even keep some of your plastic. 

First, begin by asking yourself what you want to get out of a credit consolidation loan.  Do you want to have lower monthly payments? Do you want a lower interest rate?  Or do you just want to stretch out your loan term?  If you are not careful with your debt consolidation plan, you may find yourself worse off than before.  You need to also decide on a spending plan because you don't want to eliminate all of your credit card debt just to run them up again.

Which cards to keep depends on your credit requirements.  How you are using your cards will also help you to determine which cards to close.  Do you have department store cards and gas cards that are just gathering dust?  If so close them.  Do you have a yearly fee on a card for frequent flyer miles?  If you plan to use your miles, you will want to make a decision on whether or not the card and the fee is worth keeping. 

Next you will want to pay off any credit cards with a low-balance and close those accounts.  If you have a small amount of debt, transfer the remaining balances to the card with the lowest interest rate.  Do not use this credit card until you have it paid off.  If you are going to be incurring too much in interest you may want to consider taking out a credit consolidation loan to pay off the card.  You will then begin making monthly payments on this loan.  In most cases, the loan has a lower interest rate that you will benefit from.

You should then close out any accounts that you do not intend to use.  This gives you fewer opportunities to raise your debt back up to an unmanageable amount again.  You will also want to be sure to pay off the card each month.

The credit consolidation loan will also allow you to build your credit rating back up by showing consistent, monthly payments on your loan.  Your credit score is made up of 35% of your payment history, so it is very important that you always make your payment.