You have got the amount you will save overall. That of course is just the start. You've got a ball park figure but you want to know the best don't you? That's where shopping around comes in. Just like any other loan a credit card consolidation loan comes with different interest rates and it's your job to find the most competitive. Let's take an example of the silver markets about 30 years ago. Two brothers Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt decided to corner the silver market along with some of their business associates. They succeeded in driving the price up to around $54 an ounce before the authorities changed the rules on margin trading. See what I meant when I said they don't care about you? Of course from your point of view you are probably going to be benefiting by having lower repayments, less worry and you'll get your credit history back on track. So it's win-win. Now to actually get a bad credit debt consolidation loan you're going to have to convince the bank or loan company that they really are going to be benefiting. Of course this is the age of the internet so as an alternative to books you can search for financial and stock market terminology online. The important thing to bear in mind with this is that you should only use reputable and trusted sources. Remember that the 'net is unregulated and anyone can put up a site without bothering to check their facts. The simple math here is that if the maturity period is longer, then the total interest you earn needs to be higher. The interest rate itself may not be higher, but the total interest earned should be. The best source to do the research is definitely the Internet, where you get information not only from the websites of the financial institutions that provide the CD products but also from the various blogs and forums where people discuss about CDs and which of them are the best. A non profit consolidation organization would, on the face of it, seem a better choice than a bill consolidation service run by a profit making company wouldn't it? Well the answer is yes and no. Let me explain. There is no guarantee that an organization offering bill consolidation services will be any better just because they're non profit.