Digging your self out of years of debt can be stressful at best, but at it's worse it can be disastrous. Buying a house without taking your debt into consideration almost always has similar consequences. Your in debt and you want to buy a house; what do you do? Here are a few options available for home buyers seeking freedom from debt.

• Renegotiate: While you may be convinced your lender is desperately trying ruin your credit or repossess the things you value most like your home, car, or boat; in reality, most are more than happy to help you by renegotiating your loan agreement. Speaking to your lender at the very start of any financial problems is extremely important and can often save you from dire situations down the road.

• Credit Counseling: Believe it or not there are experts out there are are certified to deal with what you're going through. Credit counseling agencies and their employees make it their job to help you get back on track making this another viable option for debt relief. In a sense, the agencies act as a third party to speak to the creditors and bill collectors on your behalf. Traditionally they will ask for a set amount of money from you, the borrower. They will then allocate that money properly and work to help you get out of debt.

• Borrowing Against Life Insurance: For borrows who have a full life insurance policy, this presents yet another option to help get you out of debt. Many life insurance companies will allow the policy holder to borrow against the value of the insurance. The money is taken right out of your policy and any money not paid back will be deducted from the value should something happen to you. Not paying this backs means leaving loved ones without that money so be careful, you may only want to use this as a last resort.

• Transfer Balances to Credit Cards: Millions of Americans have their mailboxes inundated with pre-approved credit card offers that claim 0% financing on transfered balances for a certain period of time. This means whatever debt you transfer onto the credit card is not subject to interest rates until the end of the introductory period. Sounds terrific but use caution. Debt that remains after that period is subject to substantial rate increases and there is always a large possibility that you will need to pay on any interest that may have accrued over the introductory period. If you're debt is not substantial and you know you can pay if off within the time frame given this can be a terrific option, however, for individuals with a large amount of debt this can actually place you farther in the red than you were before.

• Home Equity Loans: If you already own a home and want to clear up your debt before you purchase a new one you may feel stuck. However, you do have options. Those who find themselves in the clutches of deep debt often find a home equity loan the number one option for debt relief. It's relatively inexpensive, moderately easy to be approved, and can even offer tax deductions. This is also a more forgiving option for repayment since many lenders have fairly lax repayment schedules which offers the borrow a chance to get current with their payments as well as get ahead and improve their credit score by paying a little extra each month.