Should I Consolidate My Credit Cards?

This tool compares the total cost of keeping multiple credit cards with consolidating the debts into one card. Debt consolidation allows a borrower to combine payments to various creditors into a single loan, hopefully at a favorable interest rate. In this case, all the other creditors are assumed to be credit card companies.

Total cost is discounted to present value, which is the value of a payment, or series of payments, in today's dollars.