Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Who Needs Debt Consolidation?

Debt consolidation means to combine several small debts into one single payment per month in order to lower monthly payments or high interest rates.  Typically, consumers will consolidate credit card debt, medical bills, or unsecured loans into a secured loan.  This secured loan will allow consumers to reduce the high interest rate and create payments that are more manageable.

Keep in mind that for debt consolidation, another option is to reduce interest and monthly payments on credit card bills but only by getting a secured loan.  Of course, the actual process for debt consolidation, as well as the options offered, will depend on the institution with which you work.  Even so, who are the people that would benefit from debt consolidation?

Having a better idea of what debt consolidation is, we wanted to see if you are someone who would benefit.  To make this determination, you need to ask yourself a few questions.

Are your bills being paid on time each month?  Now, if you pay the minimum amount due for each bill you have, the debt consolidation option may work great for you.  Just imagine being able to cut interest rates, lower monthly bills, pay off credit cards and still have money left over.  While debt consolidation works great for people barely getting by each month, this option can also help by getting you out of a financial mess fast and easy.

After paying the bills, do you have any money leftover for fun and entertainment?  Now, it is not advisable to spend loads of dough hand over fist and expect to be financially stable forever, but including some money in the budget for a bit of fun and entertainment is acceptable.  In fact, having a small budget for entertainment is healthy.  Depriving yourself from fun all of the time on account of the bills will tend to encourage rash spending and impulse buying.

You need to pay your bills but you also need to understand all of your expenses, compared with your income.  With this information, a good budget can be created, showing you whether debt consolidation might work in your case.

For dropping interest rates, debt consolidation can work.  For instance, if the current market shows interest rates going down, consider debt consolidation.  Again, no matter what your budget looks like or your ability paying the monthly bills, if you have an option of reducing interest rates, consider it.

Most consumers would highly benefit from a debt consolidation.  We suggest you start by analyzing your current financial situation, along with the interest rates being paid.  The more you know about your finances the better chance you have of making changes.  Of course, if you discover that a debt consolidation loan is a poor choice at this particular time, you can always re-evaluate your situation in six months to a year to see if it would work better then.

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