• Becoming debt free is the dream of many people who suffer from large amounts of debt on a regular basis. Several legal avenues exist to help eliminate your debt and become debt free. Among them are debt consolidation, debt settlement and the debt snowball.
  
  

Debt Consolidation

• Debt consolidation is an option that you can pursue to focus on a single source of debt. With this strategy, you can take out a loan to pay off all of your accounts. You may also transfer the balances on all of your credit cards onto a single card. With this strategy, you can lower your interest rates and only make one payment every month instead of making multiple payments.
  
  

Debt Settlement

• Debt settlement is another strategy that you could use in order to eliminate your debt. With this strategy, you will make a lump sum payment to your creditors to get a discount on the total amount owed. Creditors will often take less than what you owe them if you are willing to pay them all at once. If you use this strategy, it could significantly lower your credit score. Be aware that you may have to pay taxes on the amount that is forgiven by the creditor as this is considered income.
  
  

Debt Snowball

• Another strategy that you could use is referred to as the debt snowball. With this type of approach, you make the minimum payment on all of your accounts. Then with the account that has the smallest balance, you apply any extra money that you can afford to paying it off. As you pay one account off, you move on to the next account until all of your debt is eliminated. While this approach will take some time, it can save you money on interest by paying your debt off early.