Joycee, your problem was you got terrible advice from an untrained credit counselor. The system works if you know and understand the game.....which unfortunately you didn't learn until after it was too late.
That's why I'm here....trying to educate people.
Debt consolidation is different then "debt repair".
Consolidation is a fantastic way to fix a debt problem......IF you do it right. The biggest mistake people make is getting a loan and paying off all their credit cards and other high interest loans....then they turn right around and run up those now-empty cards all over again. Now they are twice the amount in debt and end up filing for bankruptcy. NEVER get a consolidation loan until you understand this, and know you must discipline your credit spending.
Home equity loans are best, but you are now putting your home at risk if you don't repay it.
A consolidation loan can have a negative impact on your score, because you are now increasing your total credit limits. Creditors do not like to see you with a lot of available credit if you income can't support it, and that will hurt your score.
What I suggest is after you have paid off your credit cards, get the credit limits lowered as much as possible (I suggest $200 if they will let you)....but keep one card with a higher limit for emergencies. This will balance out your consolidation loan and lower the credit score impact.
After several months of good payment history it will be back to normal.