Citibank Debt Counseling Article
The Basics of Debt Consolidation Loans
More and more people in the world today are heading down a risky road, a road that can lead them to financial devastation in a hurry. All it takes is the loss of a job, illness, injury, or some other emergency, and they could end up losing their homes, their cars, and facing bankruptcy in the blink of an eye. When you are so overextended that you can barely afford to make all of your minimum payments on time each month, you need to wise up and take action, sooner rather than later. For most people, the action they take is in the form of a debt consolidation loan.
When you take out a debt consolidation loan, you use the money that you receive to payoff as much of your existing debt as possible, starting with credit cards because of the high interest rates and fees, and then going on to medical bills, student loans, etc. Rather than making several payments each month and having to worry about all of those due dates, you only have to make one payment, which can make things easier on you, and eliminate a lot of stress as well. You have several different ways to go with your debt consolidation loan, dependent partly upon your current financial situation.
If you own your own home, it may be much easier for you to get the debt consolidation loan that you are looking for, using the equity that you have in your home. Lenders like this option because they have nice collateral in case you default on the loan, and it will be much easier to get a decent loan with a good interest rate for you in this manner. Of course, you are technically putting your home at risk, so depending on the severity of your financial problems; you should really put some thought into this decision.
If your credit is still in good shape, you may even be able to qualify for an unsecured consolidation loan, which means that you wouldn’t have to worry about risking any of your property. This is possibly the most difficult type of consolidation loan to pursue, as the lender is taking a big leap lending a large amount of money with no collateral. Typically, because of that risk, the rates on this loan will be much higher, and your monthly payments may not be as low as they could be with other types of loans, so it is important to do your homework here. If you can’t get this type of loan and still come out with a lower payment, then you should pursuer other options.
If you are unable to obtain a loan that can be used to payoff your debts, then you may end up having to deal with a debt consolidation organization. These organizations are able to work with your current creditors, on all unsecured debts, to try to get your monthly payments lowered, your interest rates cut, and any extra fees, such as late fees, stopped, so that you can basically payoff what you owe, with a small portion going towards interest, as quickly as possible. Typically, you can get out of debt in three to five years with this option, so it isn’t as quick as the typical debt consolidation loan route, but is still effective. You send your payment to the organization, one total payment to cover all of your debts, and then they disburse this payment to the creditors to be posted to your accounts. There are many of these organizations out there, some are non-profit, while others charge fees for the help they provide.
