by 
Romiex69x
ANSWERS: 3
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Try this link, it is from The Federal Trade Commission, they will have advice about reputable agencies. Please beware there are many unscrupulous ones out there. I would look for a non profit agency and verify that status because many falsely represent themselves. You can also ask the agency to supply references from satisfied users. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/kneedeep.pdf
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Yes, many of them are legitimate. I have used one debt consolidation company in the past, and it helped me get out of a nasty situation with an extremely high-interest credit card (about 30%). How they work is, they will ask you a bunch of questions about your spending habits and expenses to determine your income/debt ratio. Based on that, they will set a fixed interest rate for a structured repayment plan. Some will simply buy out your debt and have you pay them directly, but more often they will negotiate a lower interest rate with your credit card company, and arrange to have future late fees and interest penalties waived.
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Most are legit, but deserve to be checked out in advance. One thing to remember, though, most credit card companies consider any plan where they forgive debt or restructure it as tanamount to bankruptcy & report it as such.
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