Credit Card Debt Consolidation - How To Consolidate Credit Debt For One Easy Payment

Credit card debt consolidation often make sense for consumers with several high interest credit cards. Instead of paying back all these cards independently, many consumers choose to consolidate the loans and pay them back at a lower interest rate. Given, the right situation it can be a great way to eliminate thousands of dollars over the years. So does this make financial sense for you?

Credit card debt consolidation is where consumers and small businesses can trade in their high interest unsecured debt for a lower interest secured debt loan. Unsecured debt, such as credit card debt, has a high interest rate due to the risk involved for the lenders.

A consolidation loan will pay off your original high interest debt. In return you will have to back up your new low interest consolidation loan with a security such as a home or automobile. By paying back the debt at a lower interest rate, even if just a couple percentages, can have a major impact on the overall balance you end up paying back.

For consumers that are struggling to meet their monthly minimum payments there are better options than consolidation. Debt settlement is one of them. Debt settlement programs negotiate the actual balance of your unsecured debt while consolidation loans attack the interest rates. Debt settlement is seen as a legitimate alternative to bankruptcy and only those consumers and small businesses that are going through financial hardship should consider it.

If you have over $10,000 in unsecured debt and are experiencing a financial hardship then debt settlement could be your most affordable option. New federal laws were recently passed that ban these companies from collecting upfront fees. Now if they can't reach a successful settlement deal and cut your balance by at least 40%, you don't pay a dime!

Getting out of debt through a debt settlement process is currently very popular but you need to know where to locate the best performing programs in order to get the best deals. To compare debt settlement companies it would be wise to visit a free debt relief network which will locate the best performing companies in your area for free.

By: Matthew Couch

Free Debt Advice. http://www.freedebtsettlementadvice.com/

Is Debt Consolidation A Good Solution For Your Financial Struggles?

Debt consolidation may be the answer you are looking for. In today's very tough economy, there are thousands of people who are struggling with a mountain of debt. This may have been caused by unexpected expenses, job cutbacks or layoffs, or just having been living a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget for way too long and things have finally caught up with you.

Whatever the reason, the reality is that you have some severe financial problems and you need to find a solution.

One of the solutions that many people are seeking to their debt consolidation problems is to find a second and sometimes even a third job. But there are two primary problems with that. First, today's job market is worse than it has been in many decades, and even finding a decent second or third job is likely to be a very tall order. The second problem with this is that there is only so much of you to go around, and if you are working two or three different jobs to make ends meet, what kind of life is left after your work that you can really consider "you time"? Not much, if any.

You have probably considered bankruptcy and all the ramifications that a bankruptcy filing would bring with it, not the least of which is that the declaration of bankruptcy will remain as a huge red flag on your credit report for the next decade, alerting potential future creditors that you have taken the easy way out of debt once and therefore may do it again. In reality, bankruptcy is far from an easy answer but that is a different discussion.

You really need to look into and consider debt consolidation. Let's be clear about what debt consolidation is, since this term is thrown around in several different ways to confuse what it can really mean for you. What is being referred to here is a PROGRAM, not another loan.

The last thing you need right now with a truckload of debt is yet another loan, even if you were to use that loan to pay off or pay down existing bills. Doing this with another loan is really just borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, and while you may have delayed the pain, you have not addressed the root problem.

With a debt consolidation program, you work with a financial expert to determine your current financial obligations and the amount of your current income. What happens then is that you work out a single payment that is affordable and you make that payment to the debt consolidation company, where they in turn make your monthly payments to each of your creditors. Again, this is NOT a loan, so if you neglect to make your single payment to the debt consolidation company, they do not make your payments to your creditors, and you are then back at square one.

You may be wondering how this differs from you just making payments to each of your creditors every month. The big difference is the additional service provided by the debt consolidation company on your behalf. What they will do is negotiate with each of your creditors to lower your interest rate, reduce or eliminate late charges, and more.

The end result is that, for example, if you were needing to pay out $3000 per month to meet all your financial obligations, your single payment to the debt consolidation firm could be as much as HALF of that amount, giving you significant amounts of financial breathing room t get your act back in order from a financial aspect.

A debt consolidation program is definitely something you should look into to get your finances back on the right track during these rough economic times. It is a much better answer than bankruptcy or yet another loan, and could be the answer you are looking for.

By: Jon Arnold

There is little sense in continuing to struggle financially day after day which adds still more stress to your life, and you know you need to take some kind of action, but what? Seriously look into a Debt Consolidation program as a way to get you out of your current financial troubles and allow you the space you need to regroup and gets things back together. For more insights and additional information as well as a wealth of resources to help you understand this better and get started with a great program, please visit our web site at http://www.debtconsolidationstrategies.com

Bad Credit Debt Consolidation - A Brief Guide

Although the idea of debt consolidation may seem like a last-ditch attempt to dig yourself out of financial difficult, it's actually worth considering if things get really bad (especially if you have the added woes of bad credit to deal with too).

When you've got large amounts of debt, it can often feel like your finances are spiralling out of control as you struggle to cope with all your monthly payments at once; unfortunately, this can often lead to missed payments and that leads to bad credit getting onto your credit history, at which point things usually only get worse.

Thankfully, that's where debt consolidation comes in. As a means of helping people with bad credit out of a hole, it's an option that should really be considered by people who've run into financial difficulty simply by having too many debts to handle at once. There are plenty of debt management firms in the UK today, so it's worth checking around to compare rates and, where applicable, fees; once you've found the best company for your circumstances, you'll be left with one affordable monthly payment instead of many expensive ones.

This amount will be divided between your creditors (the people you owe money to) by the debt management company, who'll negotiate directly with them on your behalf to ensure you're not only better off financially, but left free of the harassment that can come with creditors demanding their money from you.

Obviously, a debt consolidation agreement is the same as any other loan or credit agreement, as you have to keep up the repayments to ensure your creditors are satisfied -- missing payments can lead to money not reaching them, meaning they may come directly to you for the full amount owed.

Providing you can keep the payments up though, debt consolidation can actually improve your credit rating and help you into a position where more conventional borrowing at a better rate is possible. It's also preferable to declaring yourself bankrupt as while bankruptcy obviously has an immediate effect on your debts, it also stays on your credit history for around 6 years and can severely hamper your chances of getting credit in the future.

In Summary...

Bad credit debt consolidation...

* Is a good option for those with bad credit and large amounts of debt
* Combines all your debt into one affordable monthly payment
* Can help to improve your credit rating through regular repayments
* Is easy to apply for and can be approved quickly
* Usually has no up-front fees

By: Martin Mathers

Copyright: Individual Finance, 2010

Individual Finance has informative articles on Bad Credit Debt Consolidation, Bad Credit Loans and many other aspects of UK finance. It also keeps users up to date with the latest money-saving offers and vouchers through regular e-mail newsletters.

Martin Mathers writes for Individual Finance -- he's a professional journalist and writer with 12 years of experience under his belt, covering everything from finance and business to movies, music and technology. http://www.individualfinance.co.uk/bad-credit-debt-consolidation/