Bankrate has an excellent review of common misconceptions of debt management. Here is the first installment: Credit Counseling, Debt-Management Programs -- It's All the Same.

True, don't confuse credit counseling and debt-management programs. You should go to the right credit counseling agency and discuss which debt management tactic is right for you. Also, it is important to note it takes behavior change, instead of merely participating in a specific program, to pull yourself out of the debt.

Credit counseling involves helping consumers develop a budget and the discipline to make steady payments to clear their debt loads. In a word, it's education. "Most of these individuals make a decent living, but at the end of the week don't have enough money and don't understand why," says Joel Greenberg, president of New Jersey-based Novadebt.

Debt-management programs -- or DMPs as insiders like to shorten it -- are one tool in the credit counselors' kit. Basically, the DMP plays policeman, taking your monthly lump-sum payment and distributing it to your creditors until the accounts stand at zero. They then close those accounts. According to Greenberg, less than 35 percent of the people who call consumer credit counseling agencies truly can benefit from a DMP.