Debt elimination refers to completely eliminating your debt. Most companies that advertise themselves as debt eliminators, are in fact a fraud. There is no easy way, no magic pill, no magical solution to simply make all of your debts go away.

However, you can eliminate your debts by tackling them one at a time. It is a slow, tedious process but if you do it right and don't fall for tricks, you could eventually eliminate your debts.

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The Slow and Steady Approach

Successful debt elimination comes from following a series of steps and doing each of these steps in order. It is possible to do this all on your own but it might be a good idea to get some help.

Debt consolidation loans and debt negotiation services are two ways that you can start the process of debt elimination. Whichever method you use, the end result would ideally be that you are finally out of debt for good.

Just make sure that you take the slow and steady approach to debt elimination. The only quick way to eliminate your debts is to file for bankruptcy and that should only be used as your last resort.

The process of debt elimination can take you down one of three different roads. The avenues that you may take include, in order of preference, debt consolidation loans, debt negotiation (debt settlement) services, or bankruptcy.

You could start the process by looking into debt consolidation loans. This would be a loan that pays off all of your other debts, such as those that you have acquired by using your credit cards.

A debt consolidation loan could come from a company that specializes in unsecured loans and caters to people with bad credit or it could come from a home equity loan.

Keep in mind that with a home equity loan, you will be able to get a better interest rate than if you go with an unsecured loan from a company that offers debt consolidation loans as a specialty. With home equity loans, you also have to keep in mind that you are putting your home at risk.

If you decide to try to go with an unsecured debt consolidation loan, you run the risk of not qualifying for the loan. You could also end up paying a variety of fees as well as a high interest rate.

If you cannot qualify for a debt consolidation loan or if you don't own a home, the next preferable method would be to use a debt negotiation service. These companies will contact your creditors and negotiate your debts for you. They might be able to get your debtor to lower your interest rate or make some other type of concession that would lower your monthly payment.

Your final line of defense is bankruptcy. This is generally not a good idea since you will suffer from bankruptcy related consequences for 10 or more years.

Yes, you can do it all yourself. Yes, it can be extremely difficult to do so. You would need to do a lot of research so that you can know all of the ins and outs of each road that you could travel.

If you want to use the DIY approach to debt elimination then you will need to first stop using your credit cards. Then you can start paying them off one at a time. It might be a good idea to pay off those credit cards or lines of credit that have the highest interest rates.

Before you can pay off your credit cards, you will probably need to pay-down your credit cards. This means that you will want to pay more than the minimum amount due at the end of the month.

Probably the biggest step that you can take in DIY debt elimination is to actually contact your creditors and negotiate terms and/or a lower interest rate.

Most of the credit card companies and other creditors will have a website that you can use in order to get an email address where you can contact them. Before you contact any of your creditors, it is a good idea to take quite a bit of time and thought and put down on paper what all is involved in your financial situation. You can then write a 'template' letter that would be sent to each creditor.

In your letter, make sure that you convey the fact that you are in a state of financial difficulty. You might tell them that you are considering bankruptcy but you would like to avoid taking that step, if possible. Let them know that it may take some compromise and concessions from them in order for you to continue to have the ability to make your monthly payments.

The credit card companies will usually work with you. They would rather have you pay them $20 per month than have you include their company in a bankruptcy case.

After you have managed to tackle each of your debts, be sure to take charge of your finances in order to ensure that you do not end up in the same type of trouble at a later time.