If your debt is becoming difficult to get on top of, here are some questions to ask yourself to help you determine if you need some help managing or consolidating your debt. If you answer yes to any of these questions, you should probably consider applying for a debt consolidation loan or seeking help from a debt management service.

1. Do you borrow from one credit card to pay another?

2. Are you unable to pay down any principal on your loan balances and can you only afford to make the minimum monthly payments?

3. Do you make your loan payments on the very last possible day that you can get away with making your payment? Are you unable to make your payments even a week ahead of the due date?

4. Do you find yourself putting necessities like groceries and gas on a credit card without being able to pay it back by the end of the month?

5. Are you continually seeking new loans or loan sources in order to keep up with your expenses and bills?

6. Do you have more than 5 credit card payments? Are you paying your debt payments to many different companies every month?

If your income is maxed out with debt or credit card payments every month, it can be very discouraging to work all month and only be able to keep up, or not even quite keep up with your bills and debt. Debt can be manageable and livable if you are making progress with paying down your debt balances.

Sometimes, if your income has dropped or you are in a situation where you have gotten yourself into too much debt. It is best to seek help managing your debt, or applying for a debt consolidation loan, which can lower your monthly payments and leave you the extra money every month to start paying down your principal balance.

You can have financial breathing room if you can consolidate your bills into lower monthly payments. It is a smart thing to do if you are struggling to make your minimum payments.

There are many ways that debt can be consolidated. If you have a home with some equity, you can apply for an equity line of credit which can be used to consolidate your debt. Even if you have no equity in your home, you may be able to qualify for a home loan which will go over the amount of equity you have in your home, sometimes up to 125% of your homes value.

To view our list of recommended debt consolidation companies or home equity line of credit sources, visit these pages: Recommended Debt Consolidation Companies and Recommended Home Equity Line of Credit Sources

Carrie Reeder is the owner of ABC Loan Guide, an informational website about loans. The site has informative articles and the latest finance news.