<prompt> Human: As the title says Im 24 years old and have been massively stupid about credit card debt and have accrued just over 11k on 4 cards. A couple months ago I decided to try and take control of the situation, I cut up the cards and looked into debt consolidation. They have me on a plan of 33 months with a monthly payment of 290. I signed up for the service beginning of June and stopped my payments as advised by the consolidation service. Im now beginning to receive collection calls and am getting cold feet. Is it worth it to go this route? Whatre the ramifications. More info: live in Illinois, income is just under 57k annually, rent including utilities is 1350mo. I dont have a car or any other debt to pay for.. My main expenses are rent and food.  <response>: DO NOT USE A DEBT CONSOLIDATION PROGRAM. This is all doable by you, yourself. List out your debts in terms of balance, interest rate, and minimum payment. Pay EVERYTHING ON TIME. Pay the full minimums.Now, you need to cut spending. Stop eating out, stop going to bars. Fire the consolidation company, dont pay them a cent. You need to ATTACK your debt. Start with the lowest balance, and throw as much extra money at it by making extra payments as you can. Once its paid off, leave the account open, because it will help your credit. Do it for the next one, and the next. You could be debt free in like 10 months at your income and debt level. Once youre out of debt, use your credit cards responsibly. Use one for Netflix, one for groceries, one for fuel. Never spend more than you have in your bank account, and fully pay them off EACH MONTH as soon as you receive each statement. 