Free Financial Advice

Consolidate Your Debt

Should you consolidate debt? If you have a lot of loans and debt from many different sources, or you find yourself paying high interest rates on credit cards, you may want to consolidate debt by using a debt consolidation or debt management program.  Debt consolidation can not only reduce the interest rate you're paying, but it can significantly reduce your monthly debt obligation and it can consolidate all of your monthly debt payments into one monthly payment.  Debt consolidation is not for everyone, but it's worth investigating.  Also, if you decide to consolidate your credit card debt, please make sure that you don't continue to spend on your credit cards, as many people fall into this trap.  If you're not confident that you can stick to just your consolidation loan, you should either find a lower interest rate credit card, or cut up the credit cards you're consolidating.

Before you consolidate debt, you should explore the following options:

• If you own your own home, you may be able to take out a home equity loan, second mortgage or line of credit. You could likely get very low interest rates right now and the interest would be tax deductible. This could cut your payment to a manageable amount and reduce your tax burden.
• If you don't have enough equity in your home to take out a home equity loan, you could try getting a personal loan backed by your automobile or other real property. Because these loans are secured, you should get a lower interest rate loan and it would consolidate all your payments into one much lower payment. If you can't get a secured loan, you may be able to get a personal loan from your bank or other lender based just on your credit (if your credit is good).  Click here to find companies offering loans.
• Depending on your credit card limit, you may be able to transfer all of your balances onto one low interest rate credit card. If none of your cards are offering a low interest rate card, try signing up for a new credit card.
• Many debt management programs will hurt your credit, so it's important to monitor your credit afterwards.  There are many programs that help you repair and rebuild your credit.

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Debt Saviors Debt Saviors is a non-profit, free debt management program that not only offers one of the best debt consolidation services, but their site also offers information on bankruptcy, credit reporting and other consumer information aimed to help you make the best decision about your debt.

Credit Card Consolidators Credit Card Consolidators offer a free, no obligation debt analysis.  They are often able to cut your debt significantly, improve your credit rating, lower your monthly payments, elliminate late fees, reduce your high interest rates and consolidate your credit card debt into one low monthly payment.

Credit Provide Credit Provide is a must-see website.  They offer debt consolidation, credit repair services, bankruptcy advice, and can even help you get unsecured loans.  They specialize in helping people with bad credit and offer lots of advice including how to help you remove bad credit from your credit report as well as tips and tricks to actually improve your credit via bankruptcy.

NextStudent This student debt consolidation company can reduce, refinance or consolidate your student debt and reduce your overall student loan payments.  Works for Federal Student Loans, Federal Stafford Loans and Federal PLUS Loans.  There are no fees, charges or prepayment penalties, and you don't need a credit check or a co-signer.

Graduate Loan Center Apply online to consolidate your student loans.  Works for any of the following loan types: Federal PLUS Loans, Federal Stafford Loans, Federal Direct Loans, Federal Direct PLUS Loans, Federal Insured Student Loans, Federal Perkins Loans, Auxiliary Loans to Assist Students, Guaranteed Student Loans, HEAL - Health Ed. Assistance Loans, Health Professions Student Loans, Loans for Disadvantaged Students, National Defense Student Loans, Nursing Student Loans, Parent Loans for Undergraduate Student.

Full Spectrum Lending If you have credit issues and already own a home, Full Spectrum Lending (a member of the CountryWide family) can help you consolidate your debt by refinancing your home.  They offer multiple types of loans including mortgages, adjustable rate mortgages, combination rate mortgages, credit improvement loans, and low down payment loans. Full Spectrum Lending specializes in sub prime loans.