Credit Card Debt With Large Minimum Payments - Consolidate Bills And Make Them Manageable

Summary: Many Americans have fallen into the credit trap and it is very difficult to get out. Many people have multiple credit cards and succumb to the temptation of spending more than they can afford to payback. Even with multiple jobs is it not hard for your monthly payments to exceed your monthly income. Without a way out of the trap you will sink deeper and deeper. A great way to end the cycle is to consolidate bills into one monthly payment. While you might assume that having one...

Many Americans have fallen into the credit trap and it is very difficult to get out. Many people have multiple credit cards and succumb to the temptation of spending more than they can afford to payback. Even with multiple jobs is it not hard for your monthly payments to exceed your monthly income. Without a way out of the trap you will sink deeper and deeper. A great way to end the cycle is to consolidate bills into one monthly payment. While you might assume that having one monthly payment to pay off will mean lower monthly payments but higher interest, in reality you can have your cake and eat it to. It is not only possible, but probable for a debt consolidation loan to offer a lower total interest than the bills you were paying. This means you can meet your monthly payments and lose less money to interest as well. When you consolidate bills, the following is what happens. Your new lender pays off all of your debt, thus ending the interest on those debts and stopping all of the harassing calls you probably get. Then you pay your new lender each month instead of all of your previous lenders. Since the new lender picks up a steady consolidated payment each month, they do not have to charge you as much interest. Yes, this helps you out by lowing the amount you have to pay each month and lose in interest, but it also provides a monthly payment for them that is higher than most lenders see. They get from you not only what you owed a certain single lender, but all of them put together. So a debt consolidation loan works both ways. It helps your new lender, and so the new lender helps you as well. If you cannot pay your debts each month even though you are working as many hours as you can, then a debt consolidation loan is probably your best option. However, you have many different debt consolidation loans to choose from. If you own a home than it is usually best to use your home equity to consolidate bills. The interest rates on a home equity loan are usually the lowest of all of your options because your home provides security to the lender. Home equity lines of credit can also be used if you'd like to consolidate bills and have a line of credit open to you to cover any upcoming expected expenses, or unexpected expenses. If you do not own a home or your home does not have enough equity for a home equity loan, then you can use a personal loan to consolidate bills. Your interest rate depends on your credit score and income. As long as you have enough income to show that you can pay the monthly payment consistently, then a personal loan is usually not too hard to get, even with a bad credit score. You can also use a credit card to consolidate your other credit card debts. Credit cards often have a very low monthly payment, which is what makes them attractive to people seeking to consolidate bills, but credit cards can cause your problems to get worse. That low monthly payment makes it easy to simply pay the minimum each month, just because you can. The problem with that is that progress towards paying off your debts will be very slow and the amount of money you lose to interest will be very high. You can also reuse the money that you pay to the credit card company, which requires a lot of self-control not to use. So using a credit card to consolidate bills can hurt you more than it helps you, especially if lack of self-control is what got you into debt in the first place. No matter which type of loan you decide is best for you, it is very important to shop around for the best rates and lowest monthly payments. You should consider which is more important to you as some lenders will offer a lower monthly payment but a higher interest rate. You have to be aware that while a lower monthly payment may look good right now, the higher interest rate means you will pay more in the long run. With some footwork and time on the phone you can find the best lender in your area and obtain the best combination of monthly payment and interest rate for your needs. If you decide to consolidate bills, do not think that you are out of the water yet. Managing your debt takes focus and self-control. If you fail to pay your debt consolidation loan, getting yourself out of debt will be extremely hard. A debt consolidation loan is a great tool for getting out of debt, but it is not a free pass and you should think of it as your last reliable chance.