Problems of Debt Consolidation

There are several reasons to like joining together your debts into a single debt consolidation loan. Even the term 'consolidation' is reassuring for some people. It invokes the thought of getting rid of a lot of small and some not so small problems and amalgamating them into a single controllable issue. Rather than having a great number of lenders to deal with, the debtor can have just one financial institution to manage and merely just one monthly repayment to make in contrast to having to make numerous payments to a number of creditors for various sums. Consequently the debtor thinks that taking care of money affairs might become simplified. One other main expectation is that the debtor's credit ranking can improve significantly once all personal debts particularly credit card obligations are lumped into the loan consolidation. Each and every one of the old credit card accounts gets paid off completely. To crown it all, the regular monthly repayment on the loan consolidation will with any luck , be a good deal lower than the entire amount of the payments on all of the previous debts – credit cards, overdrafts and personal loans.

Well, that is the theory in any case. The first thing to be aware of is exactly why monthly repayments drop at all. It is not actually the benevolence or kindness of the new loan consolidation supplier which is the cause for this decrease. There are usually a number of criteria at play. One element is that the period of time of the debt consolidation loan could be (significantly) lengthier than the durations of the former loans. For example, had the debtor continued servicing each of the old borrowings (rather than lumping them all into a consolidation loan), then he or she might well have paid a number of them off rather quickly and others over a longer time period. A second issue is that the lender of the consolidation loan could possibly try to secure the money advanced on the debtor's property, often the family home. Should this be the situation, the lender has considerably minimized the lending risk that the borrower will default on payments as the loan provider may in the end fall back on the collateral in the property to cover the liability if required. Lower monthly repayments are likely to be based upon one or both of those criteria. Although the rate of interest on the proposed debt consolidation loan may be more affordable in comparison to the interest rate the person is currently having to pay on some accounts currently, the total amount of money repayable throughout the full time period of the consolidation loan could well be appreciably larger in comparison to the total amount now payable under the old borrowings.

Let's see what can go wrong if you take out a consolidation loan. If you are struggling to make your repayments at present you need to ensure that you can comfortably make the consolidation loan payments in a sustainable way and for the full duration of the projected term. You need to stop using the credit lines that you have been using. For example, you need to cut up your credit cards since the lenders may, now that you have cleared the balances, tempt you to continue to use the same credit cards that got you into trouble in the first instance. You will also have to stop using any overdraft facilities which contributed to your financial difficulties in the first place. Since most of your disposable income will have to go to repay the consolidation loan you will have to limit your access to other credit even if your 'old' creditors may want to do further business with you and make all kinds of 'attractive' credit offers to you. It is best to resist such offers, if you want to avoid struggling financially again.

An additional drawback is that when you have agreed to secure the consolidation loan on your residence and find that you are not able to maintain the repayments, you could potentially lose your house. Although you might achieve a low interest rate on the loan consolidation by agreeing to secure it on your property, the likely lengthier duration of the debt consolidation loan will mean that you give up some freedom with regards to your home finance loan e.g. you will not be mortgage-free as soon as you expected to be and you may be unable to stop working as early as you had targeted to do.

Therefore, do reflect long and hard before you decide to plump for debt consolidation loans. Take into account other choices that may be right for your circumstances. For instance you ought to investigate whether you may be insolvent. If you happen to be insolvent, a couple of the alternatives you might need to give consideration to are either to enter into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) or to petition for your own Bankruptcy (BCY). These are two personal insolvency procedures that shield you from your lenders and that also are supported by the full weight of the law behind them. Even if you are not insolvent, you might like to give consideration to going into a Debt Management Plan (DMP) with your creditors. You can do this yourself by getting agreement with every one of your lenders one by one concerning how you will pay the balance of your debts to them. This is sometimes called a self administered DMP. Most DMPs however are carried out with the assistance of providers which specialise in creating DMPs between clients and their lenders and which then manage these plans during a period of years. Whatever you consider, do take advice. Refrain from consolidation until you know about and have looked at all other remedies.

Looking for reliable debt advice ? Get exclusive inside information on how and where to find the best now in our guide to everything you need to know about debt consolidation .