A debt consolidation loan is a loan that is taken out to pay off existing debts. What this loan essentially does is take all the debt a persons owes and consolidate it into one single payment. There are many choices in debt consolidation loans. The type of debt consolidation loan a person chooses basically is determined by their situation.
If a person owns their home they can take out a loan on their home equity for debt consolidation purposes. This is probably the easiest option. The banks like that they get collateral for the loan and are likely to loan the money easily. However, the risk is that should the borrower not pay the loan their home is at risk for being seized and sold to pay the debt.
Another type of debt consolidation loan is an unsecured personal loan. This option is not going to be the easiest. A person should have fairly good credit to get this type of loan. Lenders will see this as a high risk loan and so the interest rates could be rather high.
If a borrower chooses this option they need to be very careful that the new interest rates do not make the payment too high. They do not want to end up paying more per month then they would to simply pay each individual debt.
The last option is going through a debt consolidation company. These companies will negotiate with the lenders to reduce the amount due or reduce the payments that want each month. The debt consolidation company then assumes the responsibility for your debts getting paid.
The borrower then pays the company to pay the debts off. These companies charge fees for their services. Again, it is wise to make sure that in the end using a company like this is not going to be more expensive then simply paying the debts off individually.
Debt consolidation loans should always lessen the burden of debt. If consolidating ends up costing more than the actual debts then it really is not worth it. However, if consolidating is the only way to keep debts under control then a little extra cost would be worth saving a future bad credit score.
A person should really take everything into consideration to ensure they are doing the right thing by choosing a debt consolidation loan. They should not ump into it but rather take their time and make sure they figure out all options and choose the one that is the nest for them.
Debt consolidation can be a great way to keep your debt from causing problems with your credit, but it should not cause further issues so care should be taken to make sure that it handled in the best way possible.
Depending on your personal situation it might be advisable to seek some impartial advice. There are many options available to you, each will carry its own benefits and negatives.
For example if you are a homeowner with equity in your property and in employment, and your debts consist of credit cards, personal loans and alike then a secured loan could be fastest and cheapest way to clear your debts off.
However if you are a non homeowner on low income and have a large number of credit card debts and alike then you may need to seek bankruptcy or an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA). But these are big decisions to make and it is hard to choose the right option until you fully understand the mechanics of each one.
