Yes, I have done it in a couple of different ways. First thing you must be committed to is to change your spending habits before you consider doing a consolidation loan. Never spend more than you can afford to pay off each month on any cards that now have a zero balance. If you do, you'll find yourself worst off in a year than you are now.
My first method was a balance transfer loan from another credit card company. They offered 0% for 24 months. There was a 3% transfer charge. So say if my credit card balance was 10,000, the total loan was 10,300. I was committed to getting this paid off in the 24 months so I made equal payments of roughly $430 a month. If you go this route, you must be COMMITTED to get your spending under control and pay off in the allotted time. Otherwise interest rate increased to over 20% apr after 24 month period. I probably saved thousands of dollars with this method.
I have also used Prosper to consolidate my CC balances. Depending upon your credit rating, you can get a 3 to 5 year loan from around 6% up to 15% apr. Both methods will benefit you if you dont put new charges on your existing CCs. It will definitely hurt you if you continue to accrue balances on your CCs.
Do some research and find out what will work best for you. If you have a long standing history with your bank or credit union, you may get a lower interest rate on a loan.
Good luck. It feels great not having all that CC debt looming over you every month. BTW, my credit rating went up considerably a few months after I paid off my CCs. My CR is in the low 800s now. One more advantage to paying them off!
