If you've got a large amount of debt, then you've probably received a lot of phone calls from telemarketers offering you a debt reduction loan. At first glance, this type of loan sounds great. After all, who wouldn't want to consolidate all of their debts into one loan with a lower interest rate?
My dad always said that there's no such thing as a free lunch, and this definitely applies to debt consolidation loans. Getting a debt consolidation loan can be full of hidden traps that can actually get you in more trouble than you were to start with. Here's a list of the top three hidden traps of getting a debt reduction loan:
Trap #1: You're not fixing the problem, just treating the symptom.
You may think that you're curing the problem of being in debt, but debt reduction loans actually only treat the "symptom" of being in debt. These loans just put a band-aid on the problem, but don't address the behaviors that caused you to be in debt in the first place. And, once you've lumped all your debts into one huge loan, you'll eventually start to accumulate new debts when you, once again, spend more money than you make.
Any statistician can tell you that the likelihood is high that someone who gets a consolidation loan will wind up with the same amount of debt, or more, in two years or less. And remember, they're still making payments on their new debt consolidation loan.
Trap #2: Making your unsecured debts into secured debts.
If you have credit card debt, you should know that it is what is called "unsecured debt". This means that the loan is not backed up by a tangible object, such as your home. Most consolidation loans are what is known as "secured debt", or debt that is backed up by something valuable, most often the house that you live in.
The problem with this is that if you fail to pay off your debt reduction loan, the creditor can now foreclose on your home. With the original debt, the only recourse the creditor had was to sue you in court. They couldn't come after your home.
What you've done to yourself by taking out a secured loan (also known as a "home equity loan") is to make your home vulnerable to foreclosure. Not too smart of you, was it?
Trap #3: Trading lower interest rates for higher interest rates.
Even if you choose not to take out a secured loan, and get an unsecured loan instead, you're probably still going to get smacked, this time with higher interest rates. Your high debt load, coupled with the fact that you're having trouble paying off your debts, means that you're a credit risk. This means that anybody who will give you credit is going to offset their additional risk by charging you a higher interest rate.
They may use some tricky mathematics, such as a longer loan repayment term, so that they can offer you lower payments than you're currently making. What this means for you, though, is that you end up paying even more in the long term for your debts. This is something that most people who are in debt can ill afford.
So, what's the number one way to avoid these insidious traps?
You can avoid these pitfalls by taking the daring step of managing your own debt. Unless you've already filed for bankruptcy, you can still get out of debt without the help of some shady loan shark or credit counseling. It may take some drastic modifications to your way of life, but once you've changed those behaviors that got you into debt in the first place, you'll be well on your way out of debt. - 29970
My dad always said that there's no such thing as a free lunch, and this definitely applies to debt consolidation loans. Getting a debt consolidation loan can be full of hidden traps that can actually get you in more trouble than you were to start with. Here's a list of the top three hidden traps of getting a debt reduction loan:
Trap #1: You're not fixing the problem, just treating the symptom.
You may think that you're curing the problem of being in debt, but debt reduction loans actually only treat the "symptom" of being in debt. These loans just put a band-aid on the problem, but don't address the behaviors that caused you to be in debt in the first place. And, once you've lumped all your debts into one huge loan, you'll eventually start to accumulate new debts when you, once again, spend more money than you make.
Any statistician can tell you that the likelihood is high that someone who gets a consolidation loan will wind up with the same amount of debt, or more, in two years or less. And remember, they're still making payments on their new debt consolidation loan.
Trap #2: Making your unsecured debts into secured debts.
If you have credit card debt, you should know that it is what is called "unsecured debt". This means that the loan is not backed up by a tangible object, such as your home. Most consolidation loans are what is known as "secured debt", or debt that is backed up by something valuable, most often the house that you live in.
The problem with this is that if you fail to pay off your debt reduction loan, the creditor can now foreclose on your home. With the original debt, the only recourse the creditor had was to sue you in court. They couldn't come after your home.
What you've done to yourself by taking out a secured loan (also known as a "home equity loan") is to make your home vulnerable to foreclosure. Not too smart of you, was it?
Trap #3: Trading lower interest rates for higher interest rates.
Even if you choose not to take out a secured loan, and get an unsecured loan instead, you're probably still going to get smacked, this time with higher interest rates. Your high debt load, coupled with the fact that you're having trouble paying off your debts, means that you're a credit risk. This means that anybody who will give you credit is going to offset their additional risk by charging you a higher interest rate.
They may use some tricky mathematics, such as a longer loan repayment term, so that they can offer you lower payments than you're currently making. What this means for you, though, is that you end up paying even more in the long term for your debts. This is something that most people who are in debt can ill afford.
So, what's the number one way to avoid these insidious traps?
You can avoid these pitfalls by taking the daring step of managing your own debt. Unless you've already filed for bankruptcy, you can still get out of debt without the help of some shady loan shark or credit counseling. It may take some drastic modifications to your way of life, but once you've changed those behaviors that got you into debt in the first place, you'll be well on your way out of debt. - 29970
About the Author:
Sean Payne has been learning about personal finance and how to pay off debt for over 10 years. To get more information about how to pay off debt without a consolidation loan, check out Sean's excellent free course on how to rapidly pay off debt.
