well, it really depends on whether your friend can pay the minimum payments AND other loans (car, house) or not "punctually" NOW before further going on .....

Let's say he still pay the minimum payments punctually every month, i would suggest him to take Personal loan (and or balance transfer if he still have cc with empty limit). For ploan aplication, payment history is very important. Banks will not have the confidence to lend you money if you are not paying promptly. If you have high commitments (a lot cc, car loans, house loans to pay), better choose bank that can consolidate all your CREDIT CARDS-balances-into-one type of Personal loan. 2 benefits: might get lower interest than normal aplication and higher chance to get approval.

Another option is to refinance house if your fren can do so. then, he can get a lower interest rate compare to ploan.

Let's say if ur fren cannot even manage to pay promptly, i would really advice him to discuss w the banks before get blacklisted, convert to term loan at lower interest and longer repayment period. Or if your fren's wife has a good payment record, can ask her to get ploan......

After resolving the current debts issue, would strongly advice your friend to cut the NOs of CC he has. The more cards he has, the harder for him to control the spending habits. Use how much, pay how much. Not think twice but think 10x b4 you swap your card. Pay b4 due date to advoid late paymet penalty. If not, the same problems will occur again and again.