Credit Card Consolidation – What You Need to Know Before Consolidating Debt

Credit Card Consolidation – What You Need to Know Before Consolidating Debt By Amy Cooper-Arnold

Consolidate! It seems to be the new fad in the world of consumer debt–the magic bullet that will effectively rid your life of all problems with credit card debt.

The advertisers, credit counselors, and financial experts are all shouting out:

“Slash your interest rate!”

“Save thousands of dollars!”

“With one low, monthly payment you’ll have extra money!”

And you know what? Consolidation can be a great option for digging your way out of credit card debt. But what the advertisements don’t tell you is that it’s not a magic bullet. Consolidation is a re-payment plan that is successful only when you are determined to do what it takes to make it work. It will take planning, determination, and a little elbow grease. But you can do it! Here’s what you need to know.

Find the Underlying Cause

The first step in any debt re-payment plan is determining the underlying cause; otherwise, the problem will happen again and again. Typically the problem is not the credit card itself. They are a great tool of convenience and security. Many people use them in a financially responsible way everyday. So if the problem is not the credit card, what is?

Overspending Habits

Let’s go ahead and face it. Sometimes the problem comes with just the bad habit of spending too much money. Credit expert Gerri Detweiler, author of The Ultimate Credit Handbook and founder of DebtConsolidationRx.com, says the two largest areas people tend to overspend is in the area of food and transportation. She’s heard of people spending $160 a month at the office vending machine! So maybe it’s time to take a reality check. Spend a month tracking every single expense down to the penny to see where your money is going. Then take the time, and maybe even help from a credit counselor, to setup a budget and a plan to stick with it.

A Life Crisis

Emergencies happen to everyone. Unfortunately people we love die, life-long careers disappear, and, as we’ve all seen in the news lately with Hurricane Katrina, natural disasters create havoc. All too often we are unprepared for such events and we end up putting a lot of expenses on credit cards. As you analyze your budget, it’s a good idea to determine a set amount to save each month for emergencies. Ideally, if your budget allows for it, a good amount is 5-10% of your take-home income. But if you can’t manage that much, then set aside as much as you can.

Big Life Events

Now I’m talking about events we expect–weddings, babies, college educations, family vacations, etc. Don’t let these events sneak up on you without some financial planning. The earlier you start, the better off you’ll be. And if for some reason the anticipated event doesn’t occur, at least you’ve built yourself a nice little nest egg.

Setting Aside Credit Cards for a Time

When you start consolidating debt it’s important not to accumulate any new debt. Trying to deal with a consolidation loan along with new consumer debt only builds layer upon layer of financial trouble. The accounts don’t have to necessarily be closed, but at least put the credit cards in an inconvenient location such as in a cup of frozen water in the back of the freezer, a safe deposit box, or even six feet under in your backyard! Once the consolidation loan is paid off, you’ve brought your finances back under control, and you’ve learned new healthy financial habits, then go ahead and bring them out from hiding if you want.

Lower Payment vs. Lower Cost

A big mistake many people make when consolidating debt is looking at the payment amount alone. Sure you can lump all your payments together into one low monthly payment, but what is your interest rate, fees, and length of the loan? A $5,000 loan at 10% for 15 years with a monthly payment of only $53 will cost you $2,000 more than the same amount at 18% for 5 years with a monthly payment of $126.

Consolidation Options

Now let’s take a look at some of the options for consolidating. When it comes to consolidating your credit card debt you have several options at your disposal, each with its own set of pros and cons. Here’s a brief description of some popular options along with their relative pros and cons.

Low-Rate Credit Cards

If your credit rating is good enough to qualify for a low-rate credit card, possibly even a zero percent introductory rate, transferring all your higher rate credit card balances could be a good option. This option generally works best if you can pay the balance off within one year. Check out our Card Reports section to evaluate different low-rate credit card offers.

Pros

* If you qualify for a low-introductory rate card you may get the benefit of not paying any interest for a time.

Cons

* Excessive transfer and new account activity on your credit history could cause you to have a poor credit score. This is bad when your low-rate credit card expires and you aren’t able to qualify for a new card. You could be stuck with a high interest rate.
* Watch out for balance transfer fees. Fees could potentially outweigh any interest savings that you might realize.

Home Equity Loan or Home Equity Line of Credit

Because you’re using your home as collateral for this type of debt, it’s imperative that you really understand your repayment plan and deal with the issues that got you into debt in the first place. Detweiler suggests this is not a good option in a hardship or crisis situation, including a job loss, since failure to pay back a home equity loan could result in the loss of your home.

Pros

* Usually a lower interest rate.
* Interest is normally tax deductible.
* Your monthly payment will usually be lower so you can use the difference between it and your fixed monthly debt payment to start building an emergency fund.

Cons

* You will be trading unsecured debt for secured debt putting your home at risk. If you miss even one payment you could lose your home, whereas if you left it as credit card debt you would still have a place to live.
* You could end up paying a lot of money in fees such as closing costs and appraisal fees. Make sure you shop around to find the best deal.
* The entire loan must be repaid before you can sell your house.

Personal Loan

Because of the potential effects of high credit card debt on your credit rating it may be difficult to qualify for an unsecured personal loan with a decent interest rate. If your credit rating is good you may qualify for a rate in the low-teens, but if it’s poor you may end up paying around 20 percent. Shop around at a variety of financial institutions including credit unions to compare the cost of fees and interest. And be aware that generally the extra products they try to sell aren’t worth the cost you’ll pay.

Pros

* Can get good rates, especially if you are a member of a credit union and have good credit.
* Unsecured so you don’t have to worry about losing your home.

Cons

* Your credit rating could drop further because of credit inquiries, closing old accounts, and opening new accounts.
* Additional fees.

Now you’ve got some tools under your belt to help dig your way out of credit card debt. You can also browse our http://www.cardratings.com/crinfofre.html Articles Section for more information about credit cards and debt. Good luck in your quest to be debt free.

Amy L. Cooper-Arnold has been a staff writer for CardRatings.com since 2004. Her articles have been republished by respected publications throughout the country, including Young Money Magazine, E/The Environmental Magazine and About.com. Amy recently graduated with honors from Austin Peay Univ. and is currently taking graduate-level classes.

CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for http://www.cardratings.com comparing credit card offers. CardRatings.com is pleased to offer consumers free credit card ratings.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amy_Cooper-Arnold

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A Success Lifestyle, Defining Success For Yourself

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Success comes from making small changes consistently over time. –
Kaizen For Self Improvement
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A Success Lifestyle, Defining Success For Yourself

If you went out to buy a television set, and didn’t really know what the best one was, oh, you had a general idea, but no clear picture, what would you end up buying? You would most likely end up buying something based on what others believed a good TV set should be.

Might work for you then, might not. It might even be a great TV set, but the purchase might also not be very satisfying, because others don’t know you as well as you do, what you like, what you don’t like.

Sound like a lot of speculation and guessing? It is, and that’s exactly how most of us approach our success. We go out into our lives without a clear definition of what our success is, as defined by us, and then depend upon others to tell us what it should be, when truth is, they’re out there definitionless too, asking others what their success should look like as well! If that isn’t a schematic for no-satisfaction, I don’t know what is!

What’s the solution then? The solution to what? There you go again. Why is this a problem? Why is not having a clear definition of what your success should look like a problem? Why is running around asking, and being asked about success, by people all of which do not know, a problem?

Because to do this does not feel that good. It’s confusing. And most of all because you have an idea already, that if you’re successful, it should feel good. So the first definition of our success is that: it should feel good.

Now that’s a broad definition, but an excellent one, because we certainly can train ourselves to get in touch with our feelings, and in doing so, have a constantly functioning, highly accurate, internal meter that tells us instantly when we’re being successful.

A successful life feels good!

The real problem is, most of us are not in touch with how we actually feel. Drinking our brains out sometimes seems like a good idea, but in this case the mind is not connected to the body, and truth is, the body doesn’t like being poisoned all that much. You know, heaving, headaches, and health issues.

No moral judgments here at all, simply observation. Poison a body, and it will tell you through how it feels, that it doesn’t like it. No success there! And drinking is just a hugely obvious cause and effect reaction. There are a million more examples, some very subtle, of things we do that do not feel good, yet seem like a good idea.

Or if not a good idea, at the least, idea or not, we still do them, and they don’t feel all that good. These are all examples of how we are not connected in the triad of body, mind, and heart. How about when we get angry at another person, and then more critically, stay angry with them over time? Does that feel good? Yet we do it all the time along with a million other similar things.

We do stay angry, frustrated, and upset, all the time, and over time, get cancer over it, headaches, and on and on, with the physical symptoms of our disconnect between body, mind, and heart.

Heart, for us by the way. The heart to feel that what we’re doing doesn’t feel good to us, and isn’t all that good for us, after all, because we’re the only ones who can determine how we feel anyway, in any one moment.

And people live this disconnect all the time! And it’s not that getting angry, or having any other initial reaction is wrong, bad, or even preventable at times, but staying angry is certainly something we can minimize.

We can usually minimize our reactions, after they occur, by paying attention to how we feel, and then taking actions that would serve to modify the situation that upset us in the first place. And the first place we often have to look, is in our own judgment systems. In the judgments we have of others, and even more subtly, of ourselves.

Starting with our judgment that there’s something wrong with getting angry when we get angry in the first place!

Here’s a task you can take up that will show you just how much we judge ourselves. People who are in constant judgment of others, and then more importantly, themselves, don’t have very nice expressions of their faces.

They often look sad, pained, or unhappy. Just go out to the Mall and sit down in one of those comfy orange chairs, and simply look into the faces of those going by you, as they strive to ignore the “dangerous” people they pass, refusing to look into the eyes of strangers.

Don’t do this for too long though, just long enough to feel the disconnect people have with themselves, and with others. An illusionary disconnect, because we are all One.

All from the same Source, all from the same planet, and all from the same one race: human.

Whew! That’s a lot of thinking about what it means to be successful! Yet without clear thought, we will not reach a place of truly knowing what our definition of success is in a way so that we can clearly write down goals that the achievement of, will satisfy us.

Goals, by the way, that may be as simple as to “feel good starting right now.” Because while success can look a certain way, it’s way more important how you feel about it.

And that’s the point. To so define what success means to us, and us alone, that we can then clarify what means and methods we will have to take up in order to then be successful.

And it’s going to take the whole, complete, and entire triad of body, mind, and heart, to do this. Having done martial arts for over thirty-eight years for my body as I also practiced getting in tune with the heart/mind connection, it was hard not to realize the importance of connecting the whole triad.

In the online seminar I present to participants, this is a lot of what we do: get people into their bodies first.

I get them into their bodies first, because if they’re not there at home, they’re not going to be able to define what feels good to them, and if they can’t define what feels good to them, how are they going to really be successful?

If you have any method of quieting down your mind, not making it go away, because you’ll always need it, and it’ll always be there, but simply quieting it down, then the invitation is to use that method that resonates with you.

Meditate, stare at the clouds, sit quiet, breathe, do whatever you have to in order to relax into feeling the body that you have, and in turn, the heart place that drives that body. There a quite a few very effective processes in the seminar I do that allow participants to make this triad connection.

It isn’t always easy, because we’ve been so trained to look “out there” for that which we need, but truth is, it’s “in there.”

Our satisfaction is in you, and in me, and right now.

Without this connection, without being at this feeling place where you know what makes you feel good, people can make money, they can achieve status, whatever that is, they can raise entire families, have careers and accolades galore, and yet still feel like a failure because they have never connected the triad, and have never in advance realized just exactly what their own personal definition of success is, and how to truly achieve it.

And how can you ever achieve something that you have not defined?

And if you haven’t defined exactly what it is you’re going after, and yet go around living an entire life pursuing it, can you see what a recipe for dissatisfaction that is? Certainly, we all can.

Yet we all do it. Initially, at least, until we learn something different. What we learn then, is that to pursue clear goals that we define as those that we feel good about, and in turn, will make us feel good in the achievement of them, is what true success really is.

And when we do that, what happens? Our lives feel good along the way of the achievement of those goals, not only at the completion of them. And in fact, even in the incompleteness of them, when we are feeling good, our lives are successful! Because we truly don’t really “complete” anything, life goes on, and on, and on.

There’s always more. We are already whole, and complete, there is nothing to add to us, only all this junk to clear out that we’ve accumulated. Junk that is in the way of our feeling into our lives, and realizing just how worthy and powerful we truly are.

A lot of the work I do with people is designed exactly for this purpose, to clear out the energy we have tied up maintaining the junk, and instead, direct it over to the practice of sustaining our success.

From maintaining, to sustaining. Simple. And most of us?

What we cherish most of all, is feeling good! Regardless of what we love to do, regardless of what others think, and regardless of anything really. Now that’s real success! Our voice, our choice!

TB Wright is the coursework creator of The One Penny Millionaire!™ a thirty week online seminar designed for your success. http://www.onepennymillionaire.com

A short video on useful affirmation work can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhFZ1C6uC-4

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=TB_Wright

Debt Consolidation Companies Can Help In Financial Crisis

Debt Consolidation Companies at Your Disposal

Countless Americans are always taking advantage of debt consolidation companies that offer low interest rates. This is an excellent way to get out of debt and stop throwing oodles of cash out the window. Stop for a moment to think about the bills you currently have.

Are you in debt up to your eyeballs or are you still wittling away at that pesky student loan from back in the college days? Either way, debt consolidation companies may be able to assist you with eliminating your debt and getting back on track once and for all.

No one likes debt, nor do they ever want to deal with horrific interest rates. In fact, interest rates are the main reason we all despise debt. Think about your credit card. What is the current APR? If you have a good 10 thousand dollars left to pay on that credit card and the APR is something awful like 18 percent or more, then you’re losing major money every month to interest alone.

This can be depressing to say the least. Well, fortunately this is where debt consolidation companies come into the picture. Often these companies can help you consolidate your total debt into one low monthly payment.

Why is this good? To keep things simple, you can go from five massive bills that are due monthly to one more reasonable sum that’s due each month. However, that’s not all. An excellent benefit of consolidating is acquiring a low interest rate.

You may even find some debt consolidation companies that are offering loans with a low 5 or 6 percent APR. That awesome because you lose so much less money to interest every month. It all begins with saving money on interest rates.

If you’re currently searching desperately for debt consolidation companies that offer great percentage rates, then it’s time to turn your focus to the Internet. This is where all the information you really need is located.

Online you can easily compare and contrast different debt consolidation companies and find out which ones are currently offering the best deals and the lowest percentage rates. Seriously give your debt some thought. There is no reason to struggle every month with bills that you can’t handle.

Start getting out of debt today!

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Poor Credit Can Be Overcome With Debt Consolidation

For Debt Consolidation Poor Credit Can Be Overcome

When looking for debt consolidation poor credit may be a big hurdle you’ll have to overcome before you can get a better grip on your finances.

If you’re swamped in debt and behind on your loan payments, chances are you already face the problem of poor credit. While you may have once had a very good credit rating, changes in your financial situation may have led you to fall behind, and the result of that new financial hardship is that you suddenly find yourself saddled with a poor credit rating.

That means finding a reasonable loan at a reasonable rate may no longer be a simple task.

You may be one of thousands who are struggling and looking for a method to get your head above water, but when searching for debt consolidation, poor credit could stand in your way.

If you find yourself swamped in debt and constantly struggling to make even the minimum payments, debt consolidation can be one alternative way to ease your payment burden.

Consolidating several high-rate credit cards into a single, lower-rate card could possibly be an option, however if your credit rating is already suffering and you find yourself with a poor credit score, finding a lower-rate card will likely be difficult.

A simple debt consolidation loan may also be available, but beware of extending yourself too far in order just to survive through a short-term rough financial patch.

When it comes to debt consolidation poor credit can easily make your situation worse, if you aren’t especially careful. There are a number of legitimate ways to consolidate your debt even if your credit rating is suffering, including using equity in a home or vehicle if necessary.

However, there are a number of unscrupulous types around who like to prey on those who are suffering with credit problems. These shady dealers see bad credit as an opportunity, and they know that for people looking for debt consolidation poor credit will likely shut them out with the bigger lenders.

These less than honorable financiers often use what the desperation on the consumer’s part as a method to steer them into a financially dangerous arrangement.

You may also be able to find an unsecured loan which will allow you to consolidate several other debts as well. However, this too can be a dangerous undertaking, so make certain that you fully understand all of the fine print of the loan agreement before you sign.

One benefit of using an unsecured loan for debt consolidation is that it will have no impact on your important assets, such as your home or other valuable property.

Debt consolidation can be a helpful method to improving your financial conditions, particularly when hard times hit.

However, for debt consolidation poor credit can be a big stumbling block, so make certain you consider any consolidation loan or program wisely before you sign on the dotted line.

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Debt Consolidation Hidden Fees To Watch For

Beware Hidden Fees When You Consolidate Credit Card Debt

High interest rates can be a massive drain on your finances. If you are stuck with loans or credit cards at high rates, it can seem as though practically every cent goes to pay the interest and that the principal balance never seems to shrink.

That means you may think it might be a wise move to consolidate credit card debt and reduce your annual interest rates to a figure that is more manageable.

On the surface, it may seem prudent to transfer a credit card with a annual percentage rate of 16 percent to another card carrying a lower rate, such as 13 percent. But before you make the balance transfer, be sure you investigate the fine print of your contract with the lower-rate card, as you may find that there are “hidden” fees that could come back to bite you when you actually do consolidate credit card debt.

So what should you look out for?

Some credit card companies charge a “balance transfer fee” that you will have to pay when moving the balance from your higher-rate card to the new credit card.

In many cases this fee is a flat rate, one time charge of $35 or $45. However, some consumers report that they’ve been shocked to learn that the balance transfer fee is actually a percentage of the amount transferred, some as high as four or five percent.

On a $2,000 balance transfer, a five percent transfer fee will set you back $100. And don’t forget when you consolidate credit card debt, these balance transfer fees are added to the new outstanding balance on the lower-rate card.

That means if you don’t make a payment that covers the transfer fee immediately, you’ll be paying interest on top of the fee itself.

In addition, check any other “hidden” fees when you consolidate credit card debt onto a lower-rate card.

For instance, if you prefer to make your payments via telephone, some card companies charge a telephone payment fee. You may be shocked to find that your old card didn’t require a phone payment fee, while your new card does require a fee, sometimes as high as $10.00 per transaction.

That means you’ll have to adjust your preferred payment method to avoid getting stung by such a charge. Your credit card company should inform you of any convenience or payment fees that will be required before you actually complete the payment. If they don’t, then make sure you ask.

While we often refer to these fees as hidden, that’s only because these fees may not be on top of the mind of the consumer when making a decision to consolidate credit card debt.

You should know that the credit card companies are required to disclose fees to you before you avail yourself of their offers, so carefully consider the details and fine print before you act.

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How To Use A Debt Consolidation Loan Calculator

Make Wise Decisions with a Debt Consolidation Loan Calculator

If you’re facing a mountain of debt, you may consider a debt consolidation loan as a method to help ease the financial burden. However, before you consider taking any steps toward a consolidation you should first get a better understanding of how various consolidation options will affect your overall financial health.

In a case like this, you should consider using a debt consolidation loan calculator to help you figure out how any financial decisions will affect your bottom line.

There are many methods to consider when seeking a debt consolidation, some of which offer advantages beyond simply allowing you to restructure your debt.

Some consolidations may require you to use equity you’ve built up, such as equity in your home, as a method to secure the amount of debt you plan to refinance.

Other consolidation loans may be offered that are unsecured, but these loans may come at a higher rate.

An online debt consolidation loan calculator would certainly prove useful as you begin to play “what if” with the numbers, so you may want to take the time to find one that will help you sort out the details.

For a debt consolidation loan calculator to be beneficial in helping you decide on how to restructure your financial obligations, it must certainly contain a number of essential variables.

First, such a calculator should allow you to select a payoff period that stretches from a very short term, such as twelve months, to a very long term, such as thirty years or more.

A useful calculator should also allow you to adjust the interest rate and re-calculate the payoff period, as well as help you decide how much to apply to the interest and principal of your consolidated debt.

In addition, a full-featured debt consolidation loan calculator may also provide detailed reports and useful graphs that make it easier to get both a detailed drill down on monthly financial condition with colorful charts that allow you to easily see how your debt is structured.

A debt consolidation loan calculator should also allow you to do a full cost analysis of a potential restructuring, and you should take care to include any fees or other amounts that will be rolled into the principal amount when you actually restructure your loans.

Failing to include such additional costs will most certainly provide you with an overall picture of your future finances that is not as accurate as you would like.

Don’t forget that consolidating your debt is a major step that has long-term implications in your financial future, and using a debt consolidation loan calculator will allow you to make good decisions today that will pay financial dividends tomorrow.

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What Are My Best Debt Consolidation Options?

What Is The Best Debt Consolidation Option

If you think you need help with your debts, you may consider debt consolidation as a way to help you meet your financial obligations. But there are a number of ways you can consolidate your debt, so you may wonder what is the best debt consolidation plan for you.

Well, the answer really depends on your own personal circumstances. So to help you decide, let’s take a closer look at some of the best debt consolidation options.

Debt consolidation is simply taking a number of outstanding loans and combining them into one single monthly payment.

You can do this with personal loans, credit cards, or other types of debts you may have incurred. In some cases, the best debt consolidation method may be to actually close out several loans by creating a new loan that will pay off each of those balances.

In other cases, you may want to work with an agency that will keep the original loans open and will work with your creditors to change the terms of your loans so that you will be better able to pay.

Some believe that the best debt consolidation method is to combine your various debts into a single obligation. Using this method, you would take several debts and seek a new loan that would be enough to pay off each of the individual balances, which would leave you with just one payment rather than multiple payments.

The object of this sort of consolidation is to find a loan at a lower rate than the combined APR of the individual obligations you’re seeking to pay off.

Some borrowers find that the equity in their home is a good place to start. By securing a home equity loan, they are able to reduce their monthly payments by both extending the pay back term as well as lowering the overall interest rate.

Another popular method for debt consolidation is taking advantage of a low rate credit card to transfer balances from other high rate cards.

Some feel that when your aim is to reduce your credit card payments, moving balances from several cards to a single card is the best debt consolidation method to choose.

However, there may be some hidden traps you have to look out for. In many cases, the low rate credit card offer is only an introductory rate, and the low percentage may increase at some time in the future.

There may also be fees for transferring the balances from your existing cards to the new credit card, so make sure you ask your card company about such fees before you decide if this is the best debt consolidation method for you.

Finally, you may consider working with a specialized agency that is designed to help you reduce your monthly payments.

Most often, these agencies don’t actually combine your debts into a single loan, but instead they work with your creditors to lower your interest rates and payments while at the same time protecting your credit score.

Some feel this may be the best debt consolidation option, since the agency works with your existing creditors rather than creating a new debt.

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Debt Consolidation Help – 3 Keys To Watch For

The Three Keys To Debt Consolidation Help

Debt consolidation help comes in many forms these days, and you may find that you have so many debt consolidation options that you have no idea which way to turn. The entire personal finance industry can be a confusing and intimidating arena, especially for those who have very little experience or knowledge of loans and lending choices.

You may want to turn to a financial advisor for help in sorting out your personal finances. But if you’ve decided that you want to consolidate your debts and are actively looking for debt consolidation help, here are three important things to keep in mind:

1) Beware of consolidation loans that provide lower payments but higher interest rates than you’re currently paying. Some companies providing loans for debt consolidation help you by lowering your monthly payments, but charge you a higher overall interest rate than your existing loans or credit cards, and then stretch your payments over a long period of time.

When all is said and done, if you add up the total payments over the life of the loan, you’ll find that you will end up paying twice as much — or more — than if you’d found another way to pay down those existing loans.

2) Be careful when transferring credit card balances. These days many credit card companies offer debt consolidation help through the means of a balance transfer option. Essentially, the card company offers you a lower rate provided you transfer balances from other higher-rate credit cards to your new account.

While the rate may be initially lower, you should find out if that low APR is only a short-term rate designed to entice you to move your money. In some cases those initial rates expire just a few months down the line and then later balloon unexpectedly.

3) Try and find a secured loan. If you need debt consolidation help you may find that your best friend is your home. A home equity loan provides an attractive alternative to unsecured, high-rate loans that stretch out your payments over years but, in the end, cost you more money.

Home equity loans almost always offer lower interest rates than other types of loans which are granted with no collateral, because the lender is accepting less risk.

Oh, and when it comes to equity, don’t forget your car. If you have a later model vehicle that has a low remaining loan balance or is paid off completely, you may consider asking for debt consolidation help through auto refinancing.

In most cases, a loan secured by a vehicle will also offer a lower rate than other types of unsecured loans.

Debt consolidation help is available in today’s financial world, but before you jump in, remember to think carefully. You should beware of long-term high rate consolidation loans, be wary when approached with an offer for low-rate credit card balance transfers, and consider the possibility of using equity in your home or vehicle.

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