Debt Consolidation Explained

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When Debt Collectors Keep Calling
While calls from debt collectors can be embarrassing, they shouldn't be harassing, but do you know your legal rights?

If it isn't bad enough that you've lost your job or been out of work due to illness and the bills are piling up, now you've got to deal with phone calls from debt collectors who may even impose on you at work.

If you've ever been in this position, you know how... Read debt consolidation article



Reducing Debt in 5 Easy Steps
If you have incurred substantial personal debt, consider these options: budgeting, debt consolidation, credit counselling from a reputable organization and working with your creditors. You will need to choose a debt reduction method that will work best for you? The method you use will depend on your level of debt, how much spare money you have, your level of discipline, and how quickly you want to... Read debt consolidation article



Debt Consolidation Explained
Times are hard for many Americans, with interest rates going up, sky high gas prices, and overall inflation, so it's not surprising that many families find themselves in financial difficulty that's frightening enough to cause them to seek professional help.

When faced with mounting financial obligations, it's easy to fall prey to any number of the advertisements you see on television, in magazines and newspapers, on the radio, in your email box, or on the Internet, promising to either eliminate your debt altogether--or to "consolidate" your debt. In this article, we're going to look at how the debt consolidation process works.

It's a tempting thing to have a company take all your bills, roll them into one package, and then have you pay them off with one lump monthly payment, often less than the combined total of your individual bills. But let's look at what's really involved. The pitch is that debt consolidation companies will reduce your monthly payment on what's known in the industry as UNSECURED DEBT, which includes credit cards, utilities, or anything else you bought that wasn't secured by a piece of property that could be foreclosed upon by the lender. Your home mortgage, on the other hand, is a secured debt, which is the key to how debt consolidation companies function.

When you contact a debt consolidation company, the first thing you'll find yourself doing is answering a number of questions concerning your home--how much equity you have, your monthly payments, how long you've been in the home, and other things. Since your home mortgage can (and often is) the largest monthly payment you have, you might be lulled into thinking that they're merely asking in order to add your house payment into your monthly debt total.

However, there's something potentially ominous behind those seemingly innocent questions. The company is asking questions about what's generally the most valuable asset of a family--their home. Why? Because their plan is to combine all your unsecured debt and turning it into SECURED debt--by tying it to your home.

There are several potential dangers involved in that. First, if you find that you can't make the new, lower payments in the future, you'll find yourself not only continuing to have bad credit (which is something that you could ultimately live with, even as difficult as it would be). But you could actually find yourself losing your HOME, as well--a situation that could be life-threatening!

But debt consolidation companies say they can lower your monthly payments by a significant amount, and that's why you sought their help, right? Well, your must understand that the debt consolidation company won't lower either your overall debt load or interest rates. What they'll do is extend the life of your loans by transferring them from short-term (1-3 years) into long-term loans, which can take as long as 30 YEARS to pay off. You may lower your monthly payment, but you'll be paying up to THREE TIMES as much for those things you owe money on--for DECADES to come!

So, regardless of how much debt you're faced with, be smart, and before you sign with a debt consolidation company, ask them EXACTLY how they plan to help you, how long it will take to pay off your debt, and what they'll get out of it, since they're in business to make money, just like every other company in the world.

Copyright © Jeanette J. Fisher.

Jeanette Fisher teaches how to get out from under credit card debt, how to use credit to make money, and six ways to build strong credit to finance your first home and multiple investment properties. For a free credit advice and free ebook "Credit Tips for Mortgage Financing," see http://worryfreecredit.com

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Consolidate Student Loan Bills

Make the right choice on grace periods, length of loans and consolidation.

Let's see here, you just graduated college and got hired at your first job. It is now a month before holidays and (two, three or four) different loan companies send you statements in the mail informing you that you have to start paying on your student loans next month. You must be thinking, it is the holiday season and I have to buy gifts and pay my bills. How am I going to afford to start paying off my student loans? Here is how.

Grace Periods

Many recent college graduates choose the option to defer their loans for six months. That is how long the grace period is for student loans. It may be a good idea to take advantage of this option if it took you a while to find a job or if you are starting out on a low salary. Most entry-level positions do not offer the highest salaries. However, if you do have a decent salary job or if your loan is not tremendously high, it may be smart to start paying right away because the faster you can pay off your student loan, the easier it would be for you to buy a house and save money for the future. Remember, you will have to eventually have to pay back your student loan, so the longer you prolong paying, the more time it will take you to pay it off and the more it will cost you in added interest charges.

Length of Loans

Student loan repayments are usually scheduled over ten years. Lenders can have the option to have floating interest rates on loans, but cannot exceed 8.25 percent due to Federal Government laws. So obviously, the shorter the length of the loan; lenders have less of an opportunity to change your interest rates. Many lenders give you the option of extending your repayment length. Students with $60,000 or more in student loans may opt to extend their payment period up to thirty years. Basically, it is common since; the shorter the payment period of the less money you will spend on interest.

Consolidation

If you have three or more different lenders like most students with the government issued Stafford Loans, it is definitely in your best interest to consolidate them into one. The reason being, you can have one loan with a locked low interest rate. Most consolidated loans have an interest rate of five percent or less. So instead of paying three different payments with different higher interest rates, it is best to have one lower fixed rate.

Remember, student loans are a financial obligation that will affect your credit history and influence your credit score .Be responsible, pay them off in a reasonable amount of time, pay them off sooner and you could save thousands of dollars in interest. The dollars you save could be the down payment on your first home.

Copyright 2005 Debt Management Credit Counseling Corp.


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3. How to Stop Debt Collection Agency from Harassment
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Debt Consolidation Explained
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