<prompt> Human: Hello personal financers! As the title states, I am considering take out a personal loan to take consolidate a bit of small debt I have incurred with medical bills and catch up on some car matinence that I currently need but cannot afford. Any how. All the quotes I have been given have my rates at anywhere between 23 and 36 percent. My credit score is not terrible but it isnt great due to the medical bills lapsing into collections. Is there anything I could do to help lower these rates so I wont be paying more than I take out in interest? If it helps Im looking to take out 6 grand maximum and my credit scores are 629 and 710.  <response>: There is no benefit to consolidating loans if the new loan youre using to refinance has a higher interest rate than the original loans.The most effective method is to list out all your existing debt from highest to lowest interest rates, pay the minimums on everything, and put all your available money you may need to establish a strict budget and cut out all nonessentials in the short term towards the highest interest one until its paid down, then repeat with the next highest until theyre all paid off. 