My GF has a few accounts that have went into collections. Accounts that she had prior to us getting together. We have both fell into a little bit of financial trouble seeing as how our condo (that we are renting) has went into foreclosure right from under our feet. She was told from one of her friends to contact a debt consolidation company and they will help her to take care of the $5k worth of debt that she has that has went to collections. i have found other things online (please see following link)
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/DebtConsolCompanies.shtml
that advise against such things BUT there is no real reason WHY… we would both like a chance to breathe and would like a 2nd chance to get our credit back into a respectable boundary. I dont care if the consolidation company is going to make money off of us as long as we can start paying down these bills a little at a time and get back on track with the rest of society. Neither of us have and repositions or bankruptcies she just has some credit card issues and a cosmetic 
medical bill that needs to get paid off…
thanks in advance for any info.