If you're not careful you may find a company that will promise to ease your debt -- but actually put you further in the hole. Some debt negotiators charge hefty fees. But that's only part of the problem. Your credit takes just as much of a hit as your wallet.

Here's why. Often, a debt-negotiating company will tell you to stop making payments to creditors and to send money to them instead. The money gets placed in an account until the debt negotiator decides to make an offer to a credit card company. It could be several months before a debt negotiator has collected enough money from you to make a settlement offer to a creditor.

And after several months of not paying your creditors, your credit will be trashed. Not all debt negotiators are on the up and up. Some consumers pay high fees and never get any of their debts settled through a debt negotiator or debt-settlement company. Contact the Better Business Bureau to see if the firm has had any consumer complaints. Check with your state attorney general's office or other state consumer agencies to find out if there are any pending legal investigations.

A few questions you should ask are:

• How do you determine the amount of my payment?
• How will I know my creditors have received payments?
• How often can I get status reports on my accounts?
• Can you get my creditors to lower or eliminate interest and finance charges or waive late fees?
• Is a debt-repayment plan my only option?
• What if I can't maintain the agreed-upon plan?
• What debts will be excluded from the debt-repayment plan?
• Who will help me if I have problems with my accounts or creditors?

Bankrate.com has more questions you should ask.

It depends on the interest rate you are paying and how much you can pay out each month. The more you pay, the quicker the balance disappears. For example, if you paid only the minimum amount due on $8,000, which is the average amount of individual household credit card debt, at an average annual percentage rate of 13.9 percent, it would take 278 months to be rid of your debt. In that time, you will pay $6,792.25 in interest. If you added an extra $100 to the payment each month the savings are dramatic. It would be paid off in 33 months, and would cost you $1,639.13 in interest.

Use this Bankrate calculator to figure out how long you will be paying off your debt.

Using a debt-management plan to pay off debt won't hurt your credit score, but it may make it difficult to qualify for new credit.

When you enroll in a debt-management program, you write a monthly check to a credit-counseling agency and the agency pays your creditors. A debt-management plan usually lasts three or four years. A comment stating that you're paying an account through a credit-counseling agency appears on your credit report and remains until the account is paid in full. Such a comment won't hurt your credit score in the least.

However, if you get involved with a debt management agency that is late making payments to your creditors -- or doesn't make any payments at all -- your credit will be damaged.