Reducing Debt With Debt Consolidation

by Paul Underhill on June 28, 2009

Ideally speaking, debt consolidation is a situation when we try to clear off our earlier debts by taking a fresh loan. The motive behind this is to take a fresh loan at lower rate of interest, or to take a loan at a fixed rate of interest or just simply availing oneself of the convenience of servicing just one loan.

debt consolidation generally ensures moving away from paying unsecured loans to secured loans. This secured loan is often taken against an asset, which acts as a collateral. Generally the house is the best collateral for a house owner, which is secured against a mortgage. The collateralization ensures lower rate of interest as it allows the house owner to agree to a foreclosure if the loan is not repaid. Hence the lender’s risk is minimized and obviously the rate of interest comes down drastically.

One gets a bad credit rating for a single missed or late payment on a credit agreement. The credit reference agencies register an adverse credit which makes any kind of borrowing difficult leading to higher monthly repayments. In this situation only a few banks may be willing to lend. That is precisely the reason why consumers choose to consolidate the debt by mortgaging the house.

At times the debt consolidation companies tend to discount the loan amount, especially when they see that the consumer is at the verge of bankruptcy. In this situation, the debt consolidator tries to buy the loan off at a discounted rate. A shrewd consumer can actually shop around to see who will pass on the maximum saving. Before the decision is taken to consolidate the loan, it needs to be weighed prudently as bankruptcy could seriously impact the debtor’s ability to pay his debts.

Consolidation of debt works best when one is struggling with credit card loans. Credit cards generally carry much higher interest rate. Even a bank gives unsecured loans at a lower rate than a credit card. An asset like a property or a car could secure a loan with much lower rate, allowing the consumer to pay of the debt much sooner at a much lower interest rate.

But if personal circumstances change, then a loan against a house or a property could worsen situations. PPI or Payment Protection Insurance, if chosen, may help but on the other side it increases your monthly payouts.

Debtors who do not opt for a PPI should be aware that their property is at a risk of getting reposed in a situation where the personal circumstances have changed. Possibly a debtor would be comfortable looking for other debt solution than mortgaging the house or property. More so, if the person has had a history of bad credit rating. Other debt solutions do not work, if an individual has already solicited a secured loan by mortgaging his house.

On paper, the advantage that a consumer gets from consolidating loans gets severely impacted when companies use this to charge a higher fee to refinance the loan. In some cases the fees are as high as the original mortgage fees. Certain dishonest companies wait for the consumer to get cornered so that the consumer agrees to pay this high refinance fees in order to save their property. This is called predator lending. However, there are only few companies who engage in predator lending.

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