debt consolidation is not a very good idea in my view. its taking a new loan to pay old loan. and if you already have outstanding loan the APR on new loan could be higher. if you are talking about credit card debt, the good option will be to enroll in payment assistance program (most credit card want to see couple of missed payments). call the CC company after you miss 1-2 payments and ask to be enrolled in financial hardship program. they will give you option to close the account and pay fixed monthly payment until balance is clear. APR is usually 1-4%. if you dont want to close account they will offer you this plan for a year or so. 1-2 missed payment will have minor impact on your credit score. it will do more damage only if you miss payments for more than 90 days ..(will stay for 7 years). if your credit account is closed that will initially drop the score but once you start making monthly payments it will start to go up again. credit card companies will still report your =payments to credit bureaus  even if the account is closed so eventually your score will come back up.