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Start the checkupFree Debt Consolidation and Financial Improvement Tools
Would Debt Consolidation Actually Help Your Situation?
Your Numbers. Your Options. Your Decision.
Use the free PDC Financial Checkup to organize your current payments, estimate possible monthly cash-flow changes, and learn which costs to compare before choosing a loan.
Private browser-based checkup • No lender application required • Educational estimates, not financial advice
Start with a tool, not a form
Decision Center
Four directions side by side — self-directed payoff, expense reductions, a consolidation loan, and nonprofit counseling — with the real costs and risks of each.
Compare your optionsLearning Center
Short, sourced guides on why a lower payment can cost more, avalanche versus snowball, and the seven numbers to compare before signing.
Read the guidesConsolidation restructures debt. It does not erase it.
A consolidation loan pays off your existing balances and replaces them with one new balance of roughly the same size. What changes is the rate, the term and the payment — and a lower payment stretched over a longer term can cost more in total, even at a lower rate.
That is the whole reason this site leads with arithmetic instead of an application form.
See the worked exampleOne documented decision
PDC's founder consolidated high-interest card balances and reduced required monthly debt payments by roughly $469 — about $619 once other bill changes were included. The amount owed did not fall, an origination fee applied, and the paid-off cards stayed open.
One person's experience, not a typical or guaranteed result.
Read what did and did not improveFrom the Learning Center
All guidesWhy a Lower Monthly Payment Can Cost You More
A lower monthly payment reduces what leaves your account each month, but it does not always reduce what the debt costs. Stretching the same balance over a longer term, or adding an origination fee, can raise total repayment even when the APR falls. Compare APR, term, fees and total repayment together before deciding.
Avalanche vs. Snowball: Which Payoff Method Fits You?
The avalanche method pays extra toward your highest-APR debt first and usually costs the least in interest. The snowball method pays the smallest balance first and produces faster visible wins. Both require the same minimum payments; the difference is only where extra money goes, and the method you can sustain matters most.
Before You Consolidate: Seven Numbers to Compare
Before accepting a consolidation loan, write down seven figures for your current debts and for the proposed loan: APR, required monthly payment, repayment term, fees, estimated total repayment, whether the rate is fixed or variable, and the prepayment terms. If you cannot fill all seven in, you cannot yet tell whether the loan helps.
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