 TITLE: How Do Debt Relief Companies Work? CONTENT: How Is Debt Relief Different From Debt Consolidation?\n-----------------------------------------------------\nDebt relief companies sometimes arrange for you to make a single monthly payment to them, from which they make payments to creditors on your behalf (and extract fees in the process). Settlement companies sometimes call this process \"debt consolidation,\" but that distorts the strict meaning—and benefit—of consolidating debts.\nDebt consolidation—a strategy you can pursue without paying any third parties for assistance—involves taking out a loan at a relatively low interest rate and using the borrowed funds to pay off debts with high interest rates. This allows you to replace multiple monthly bills with one predictable monthly payment, which can simplify your budgeting and bill-paying routines, and can also save you money by reducing the amount of interest you pay over time. END