Debt consolidation will absolutely affect your credit. It doesn’t mean it will ruin it but it will certainly drop it. It alerts credit bureau that you aren’t able to pay in a normal fashion and your debt is being sold to a different financial institution. Also every time anyone runs your credit to check it, it drops. It goes back up eventually.

Everything to do with debt or loans affect your credit. When you lease a car, even if you use the same bank and return a car in your dealership and get exact same car, your score drops. It’s because you started a new financing. Etc

Some debt consolidation companies will tell you it won’t affect your credit, it will. It’s not the end of the world. It goes back up. Mine goes down every three years when I lease a car. Or in the past whenever I bought a new car and financed it. It goes down by A LOT. In few months it goes back up to the previous level though.

It also depends how big is your debt. If it’s 100k or it’s 10k. I’d talk to a financial advisor. They could run your numbers for you. Consolidating loans sounds like a good plan to get out of debt but in a long run it might not be. Be careful. I’d not go to all this trouble over 1k of medical bills. It could be paid off gradually