If you are juggling balances on three or four credit cards, each with its own due date, minimum payment, and interest rate north of 20%, you already understand the problem debt consolidation is built to solve. Americans owe a collective $1.26 trillion on their credit cards as of mid-2026, close to an all-time high, and roughly 60% of cardholders carry a balance from one month to the next. Consolidation is one of the most common ways people try to break that cycle, and done right it can save thousands of dollars in interest.

If you are juggling balances on three or four credit cards, each with its own due date, minimum payment, and interest rate north of 20%, you already understand the problem debt…

Anyone juggling three or four credit card bills has probably seen an ad promising to roll them all into one lower monthly payment.

Americans are carrying $1.26 trillion in credit card debt as of mid-2026, just shy of the all-time record set at the end of last year, and with the average card that carries a…