If you are like most of us you've probably noticed the huge increase in the number of debt consolidation loan advertisements on the television. While watching the ads, you can get the mistaken belief that these companies are interested in helping you and have your best interest at heart. It's critical that you understand the difference between advertisement marketing and something that will truly benefit you and your situation.

Just because these ads promise to make things better for you doesn't mean that they actually will. The ads are focused on what they believe are your emotional buttons that can draw you in to their offer. These emotional buttons may include:

1. Lowering your monthly payments

2. Giving you extra money at the end of the month to spend on yourself, a vacation, or other reward

Understand that these may be benefits, but are not reasons by themselves to contact the lender. Giving yourself a reward simply doesn't make sense, because you're still deeply in debt. While it's true that your monthly payment outgo may be lowered, the number of months or years that you're required to pay will definitely go up. Paying even more interest, even for lower payments for a much longer period of time may not be the best approach to handle your bills.

A bill consolidation loan however can make a lot of sense if you're committed to lowering the total debt or amount you owe. This means that you need to take drastic action to lower the amount of debt that you are carrying. It's possible to use a consolidation loan to lower your overall monthly payments. The key to a successful debt consolidation loan strategy however is what you do with the extra money that's no longer going to the bills.

If you follow the television advertisements and go on vacation or simply spend it, you end up worse off with the consolidation loan. Instead, if you take the extra money and make larger than minimum payments on the consolidation loan itself, you will not only get out of debt much faster but pay substantially less interest on the loan.

This is really the best of both worlds. Should an emergency arise and you need the extra cash, the minimum payment is still an option. The majority of months you will be able to pay a much larger payment. The good news is that the extra over and above the minimum payment will go directly to your debt, paying it off that much faster.