While lenders tout home equity loans as a great tool for consolidating debt, consumer bankruptcy attorneys and credit counselors say trading unsecured debt (credit card debt) for secured debt (a home equity loan secured by your home) is a bad move.

"If you've got $20,000 in credit card debt and have $60,000 left on your mortgage -- if you took out a second mortgage and paid off that $20,000, you would think you would have a mortgage of $80,000, but 'consolidate' can be a very expensive word," said John Waskin, executive director of American Credit Counselors Corp. in Huntersville, N.C., a credit counseling firm.