Many mortgage companies will tell you that a consolidation loan is a great idea to pay off debt. Here this option is examined in more detail and compared with the debt settlement option.
When you get a consolidation loan several things happen. First the equity in your home gets "cashed out" meaning the homeowner now owes that much more on their home than they did before. It is that much more than before because of closing costs and other fees that get rolled into the loan. The homeowner would typically have an additional debt to pay (second mortgage) or at least have a significantly higher monthly payment than he did before. This may be cost effective depending on what rates of interest were being changed on the debts and is being charged on the mortgage. If the numbers work really well then in some cases debt consolidation can be a good thing.