I am in a little over $45,000 credit card debt. I am trying to figure out if it would be better for me to use a consolidation company or to get a home equity loan.

How does either loan affect credit scores etc…?Which one tends to get the better interest rate? Any reccomendations on what financial institution to go through? How much money do you need to make to take out approx. 10k? Any other info you can provide would help out a lot!