Agreed. One of the first means of debt reduction is to cut down on the interest. If do your own debt consolidation then you can cut down on interest payments and get out of that juggling sensation, which often leads to overspending. Banks may love debtors, but they also love stealing debtors from other banks.

Just a warning on debt counselling. This can be helpful in the immediate situation of consolidating debts and reducing interest payments etc. However, it should be avoided until strictly necessary as it will appear on your credit rating in the future and can cause problems when trying to do other financial actions in the future, such as buy a house.