The short answer to this question is, it depends on what kind of program you get involved in and what fees are rolled into the financial product that is used to deal with your situation.
An example to help understand this better is the example of what happens when you sign a car loan that is not financed by the dealer you are buying the car from.
Let us say that you purchase a car from a dealership, and then you secure financing by getting a loan from your bank.
You do not pay the loan officer for that loan; their fee is rolled into the loan so you do not have to worry about it.
Working with a debt consolidation company goes along with very much the same idea as working with a bank when you get a loan.
A debt consolidation organization will use a loan as their primary means of helping you to get your monthly obligations under control.
If a loan is used then part of the service fees you pay every month on that loan or any other loan you get represents a payment for the services rendered by the debt consolidation professional.
It is not something that you pay for upfront, and it is a standard practice when you sign any loan agreement.
Unlike a bank, a debt expert can go outside of a loan program to help people that may have less than perfect credit.
If your credit does not qualify you for a debt consolidation loan, then your debt associate will develop a program that can still help you and they will roll their payment in to the monthly payment you make each month to the debt consolidation organization.
Once again, you do not pay up front and it acts just like the standard service fee associated with any loan you may sign for.