On his podcast, Clark Howard answers real reader questions on money, credit, debt, retirement, travel, and more, along with co-host Christa DiBiase.

Clark's answer: Whether this is for you or someone you're trying to help, there’s clearly a heavy burden of credit card debt here. First off, credit card consolidation almost never works, even though those consolidation loans are being pitched very heavily right now. The idea behind them is simple: You take all your credit card debt, roll it into one loan, and make a single monthly payment instead of juggling multiple cards. But if you're dealing with balances you just can't seem to get your arms around, taking out another loan isn't the solution.

Instead, I strongly recommend meeting with a legitimate nonprofit credit counselor through the National Foundation for Credit Counseling at nfcc.org. Their services are either completely free or very cheap, depending on your situation. They’ll work with you to build a budget, but more importantly, they can negotiate directly with your credit card companies. It's very common for them to slash high interest rates — which average around 25% — down to a much lower rate.

If you set up a debt management plan through them, you’ll make one monthly payment to the credit counselor, and they’ll distribute the money to all your credit cards. Best of all, these plans are specifically designed to get you completely debt-free in 36 to 60 months.