Smart Debt Consolidation
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Debt Consolidation: A Way Out?
When you are living paycheck to paycheck and it seems everyone is getting a piece of the pie except for you, debt consolidation may help you free up a little bit of cash each month. Debt consolidation is usually a great option if you are paying several minimum payments per month on high interest credit cards or loans. If you are behind on any payments, debt consolidation may save your credit, or at least clean it up a bit.
The first but definitely not the easiest thought that comes to most people when they are neck-deep in debt is to file bankruptcy. Filing bankruptcy seems to be the last straw left in the deluge of unpaid bills and abusive creditor calls. The situation is somewhat like this. You buy whatever catches your fancy and you thank yourself you had the blessed credit cards. It's good as long as you are spending.
This article on debt consolidation nonprofit will focus on explaining some of the different services which are offered by debt consolidation nonprofit companies. You may think that many of the nonprofit that consolidation companies only focus upon debt consolidation but most have many other services which someone can take advantage out. The reason this is important is that when you are in talking with a debt consolidation nonprofit company is that you will want to see if you can take a long look at your total financial picture since debt consolidation is a major step for most people.
Vultures and Victims
Has anyone noticed how many loan companies now fill up the commercial breaks? Sofa, after of sofa of happy couples are shown, with carefully manipulated stereotypes discussing the consolidation of their finances, recommending a particular provider. Couples, who have had loan requests knocked back from the standard, high street or traditional credit lenders, find themselves turning to alternative finance providers in the hope that they can move their debt situations forward.
According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, there is increasing concern that UK consumers are assuming unmanageable amounts of debt, which may become a precarious situation should interest rates rise or if the relatively stable macroeconomic climate takes a turn for the worst. Despite these concerns, the Foundation asserts:
"Even a casual observer of the financial scene in the UK will have been struck by the increased marketing of products - including mortgages and remortgages, car loans and debt consolidation loans - specifically to people who have an impaired credit record or who are finding their existing debt difficult to mange. It might be predicted that such borrowers would be particularly vulnerable to unmanageable debt."
Lending to people with an impaired credit record is typically called sub-prime lending, a term more familiar with people in the US, than the UK. A number of lenders have entered this market who target their products to a customer market branded sub-prime, non-conforming or non status. In the US, this market is significantly more established and a lot of the US companies operating in this field are now marketing their products in the UK. The sheer size of the prime and sub-prime lender UK market led it to be labelled the most 'complete' in the world by the Miles review in 2004.
High street 'prime' lenders tend to operate under strict requirements and guidelines, seeking 'prime' customers based on criteria such as:
* Past evidence of a good repayment record
* Good personal characteristics (stable employment, income level, registered on electoral register)
The prime lending system excludes many who wish to borrow and may be able to repay the loans, but are not awarded the required credit score. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation reported that more than 25% of general credit applications and over 30% of mortgage applications are turned down because the standard criteria cannot be met, based on research by the Council of Mortgage Lenders in 2002.
The type of credit offered to sub-prime borrowers is called adverse credit. Adverse credit is available in a variety of forms including:
* Adverse loans (incorporating debt consolidation loans)
* Adverse mortgages or non-standard mortgages (encompassing first mortgages for sub-prime borrowers and remortgages for sub-prime borrowers)
* Adverse credit cards
All adverse credit products impose higher rates of interest on the borrower. Some of these financial products have been set up to genuinely help consumers that have fallen out of the mainstream assistance offered by high street banks. Yet there is growing concern, that if sub-prime borrowers do not do their homework on the options available to them, they become even more vulnerable.
Websites such as the personal finance research specialist Moneynet http://www.moneynet.co.uk provide extensive information on the different adverse credit products available, including adverse loans, adverse credit cards and non-standard mortgages. Many sub-prime borrowers who hold adverse credit cards complain of unduly high APRs, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. These borrowers also complain that initial discounted rates are subsequently dropped following a single late repayment. It is a breach of the Consumer Credit Act to increase the rate of interest on default of repayments, but some sub-prime lenders get round this legislation by imposing a discounted rate which simply reverts to a 'normal' rate on default.
The report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation provides an insight into the vastly inflated interest rates on some secured debt consolidation loans and unsecured debt consolidation loans, including some truly appalling horror stories from people who had failed to shop around for the best deal and neglected to read the small print.
Resources: Joseph Rowntree Foundation - Moneynet - Credit Action - Citizens Advice Bureau
About Rachel:Rachel writes for the personal finance blog Cashzilla. http://www.cashzilla.co.uk Cashzilla is a mighty personalfinanosaurus: a fiery beast with plenty of opinions on personal finance issues.
Rachel is a wee lassie living in Scotland and can make the following words out of the letters in her name:
* car * ache * char * leach * reach * arch * hear * real *
If you come up with any others, email me at: rachel@positiveinterest.com
Related Smart Debt News and Articles From adzines
When you are looking to get relief from your debt problems, a lot of people tend to feel that the only good solution is to go about getting credit counseling or to even file for bankruptcy. What a lot of these people do not realize is that there is a little known about process that is known as debt settlement. The goal of debt settlement is to allow you to not only meet the requirements and needs of your creditors for less than what they say that you owe them but to also save you as much cash as possible throughout the process of it.
Credit card debt reduction is an important part of the debt reduction process. The way credit card debt reduction works is if you have five credit cards, you need to keep track of and pay 5 bills every month.
Debt Consolidation of Different Loans Debt consolidation refers to the restructuring of a large number of unsecured debts into one low monthly payment, while eliminating interest and reducing the total amount owed to creditors. Debt consolidation has become popular with people as they cope with increasing amounts of credit card debt, home mortgage loans, car loans, and student loans, along with low credit ratings and threatening phone calls from creditors. Debt consolidation is seen as the last option before declaring bankruptcy.
Are you wondering why choose a debt consolidation loan? If you are one of the many people who continually struggle to cope with an ever increasing amount of debt the solution could well be within your reach.
You're burdened with crushing debt and at the end of your rope. There's got to be a way out. You go to the door every day, expecting bad news. Your minimum credit card payments are eating up most of your paycheck every two weeks. You can't go to dinner, go on a trip, or save for your kid's education, and it just keeps getting worse. You're using your credit cards for living expenses now. This really sucks!