A Guide to Debt Consolidation
Though not an ideal solution, debt consolidation can provide
some immediate relief from high-interest loans and debts. The
idea of debt consolidation is that you take out a loan to cover
all of your debts and pay them off, leaving you with one simple
monthly payment. This can take the headache out of managing your
finances but you need to consider debt consolidation loans
carefully, and consult debt consolidation professionals when
necessary. You may find that debt consolidation only offers
temporary relief and that you may be left in a worse position
that you were originally if you do not keep up repayments.
The first stage in assessing whether you will benefit from debt
consolidation is to list all of your debts and ensure that you
include credit cards, mortgages, car loans and other personal
debts. You then need to write down the balance, interest rate
and monthly payment for each debt and determine how much you
will pay for each debt at the completion of the loan. This is
usually the amount that you have to pay the lender to clear the
loan and your debt consolidation needs to allow for this
maximum. Some lenders have penalties for early repayment which
you also need to investigate. You may need to consult a
financial adviser to ensure that you have your calculations done
correctly before you formally apply for a debt consolidation
loan. One option for a debt consolidation loan is a second
mortgage. This will give you some immediate debt relief, but
loan fees will be added on so it is important to select a
reputable company with reasonable rates. Before choosing this
method if debt consolidation you need to be aware of how much
equity will be left in your home.
Transferring credit card balances to one card is another form of
debt consolidation. Obviously you have to check the maximums on
your cards, and choose one with a low APR but make sure the APR
is not higher for balance transfers. A lot of credit cards offer
0% for balance transfers over a fixed period of time which may
seem the ideal form of debt consolidation to use but you need to
remember that any balance left of your transfers after this
period will be subject to the normal balance transfer interest
rates and these could be high. If you don't think you can manage
to clear the outstanding balances that you have transferred
within the period of 0% interest then this form of debt
consolidation is probably not the best for you. You need to find
a debt consolidation loan that is going to have repayments that
you can safely cover.
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Guides to Debt Consolidation