Debt consolidation home equity loans advantages and disadvantages

Getting a home equity loan, or second mortgage, for the sole intent of consolidating and ultimately eliminating unnecessary debts is a great plan. Many consumers are burdened with high credit card balances, consumer loans, etc. Reducing or paying off debts takes time. Furthermore, many do not have the disposable income to lessen credit card balances.

Owning a home places you at a huge advantage. Those who have built equity in their homes may acquire a home equity loan as a way to reduce debts. These loans are affordable, and serve a useful purpose. However, debt consolidation home equity loans have certain risks.

How Do Debt Consolidation Home Equity Loans Work?

The concept of debt consolidation home equity loans is simple. Home equity loans are approved based on your home’s equity. A home’s equity can be calculated by subtracting the amount owed from the home’s market value. Hence, if you owe $50,000 on a home worth $120,000, the equity totals $70,000.

Once the lending institution approves your loan request, and the money received, the funds are used to payoff creditors. Creditors may include high interest credit card balances, consumer loans, automobile loans, student loans, etc. Furthermore, debt consolidation can used to payoff past due utility bills and medical bills.

Debt consolidation loans are not free money. These loans have to be repaid within a reasonable timeframe. On average, home equity loans have short terms of seven, ten, or fifteen years – sometimes less. Because home equity loans have fixed and lower rates, these loans are easier to payoff than credit cards.

Pros and Cons of Debt Consolidation Home Equity Loans

The major advantage of home equity loans is the ability to become debt free. However, home equity loans involve careful planning. Once credit cards and other loan balances are eliminated, closing credit accounts is a smart maneuver. This way, you avoid accumulating additional debts.

Sadly, some consumers repeat past credit mistakes. Along with paying a home equity loan, they acquire more credit card debt, which increasing their debts and payments. Excessive debt makes it difficult or impossible to maintain regular home equity loan payments. This will present another home equity loan danger – inability to repay the loan. A huge disadvantage of debt consolidation home equity loans involves the risk of losing your home. Before accepting a loan, realistically analyze whether you can afford a second mortgage.

How can credit card debt consolidation help the holders

Credit cards have proven to be a great help to the holders of the credit cards. These cards have provided many benefits to the population all over the world. However, things can still go wrong sometimes even with credit cards. That is why it is recommended that one should consider the option of credit card debt consolidation. This option of credit card debt consolidation seeks to eliminate all the possible risks attached with the credit cards and its usage.

Things that can possibly go wrong with the credit cards are:

• The credit card holders can over spend with credit cards and therefore, have to take the overdraft facility.

• In case the overdraft facility is taken it brings about payments of fines and interest on the amount taken as over draft. And the fines and penalties are not that small; they are relatively higher and only a select few can handle them in a manner that they ought to be.

• With credit cards from more than one bank, it can become awkward and difficult to keep track of each. This can build up debt and lead to many problems.

This small problem can bring about many serious repercussions to the holders of the credit cards. The saying “small holes sinking big ships” can certainly be applied over here.

To prevent these kinds of happenings, what experts advise is to take credit card debt consolidation. What this will do is that it will cover all what you owe to the banks with a single loan and now the borrower of the loan just has to cater to the loan and not the credit card borrowings. The other benefits of this credit card debt consolidation are that there are no fines and penalties to payoff, a borrower has same loan options that any other loan borrower may have. Also the interest rate of the loan would be either lower or at best in accordance with the rate at which the credit card overdraft had to be paid.

Another thing about credit card debt consolidation that is good is that they can be taken even when the holder is in good condition as the loan would be only of a lower interest rate. In addition, any one can take the credit card debt consolidation, be it a person with good credit history or with a bad credit one.

Applying for the credit card debt consolidation loan is pretty much similar to the approach that one requires to apply for any other loan. The difference may be in the terms that are offered with the loan. So for people with credit cards, there is some serious food for thought regarding your credit cards. Things can only get better with credit card debt consolidation.

Unemployed debt consolidation dissolving twin burden of unemployment and debt

Okay, did you wish on the fairy godmother to take away debts? You are doubtful if it will work – especially when you are unemployed. You are certainly not happy with the current circumstances. You want to work, have the ability to pay your own bills. Everyone wants that freedom and control. Debt consolidation for unemployed can enable the borrower to do exactly that - pay your bills! Unemployed debt consolidation is meant to work when debt numerology has exceeded the number two.

An unemployed will need debt consolidation when they are struggling to pay two or more debts. Unemployed debt consolidation loans are a logical way to manage debts.

Debt consolidation loans will combine these debts into single consolidated loan. This procedure will always carry lowering of interest rates. This means that the cumulated interest rates that you pay on your various loans will be higher than the interest rate on debt consolidation loans.

There will be only one monthly payment instead of many pays for all the unpaid debts. Lowering in interest rates many times lead to lowering of monthly payments. Thus, Debt consolidation for unemployed will generate extra cash every month. An unemployed should not always see lowering in monthly payments as an obvious pattern with debt consolidation. This is so because depending on repayment plan monthly payments may or may not reduced.

Lowering in interest rates will mean saving money in the long run. Saving money would imply raising capital which the unemployed can put to many good uses.

Henceforth, the unemployed debt consolidation lender negotiates and deals with your lenders. It takes away all the harassment that an unemployed might be facing for repayment.

One consolidated loan makes debt condition manageable. You have just to take care of one debt every month leaving you to free to make other financial decisions.

Debt consolidation unemployed is possible with or without collateral. Collateral is security pledged for the repayment of the loan. Not every unemployed will have a security to place. For unemployed tenants unsecured debt consolidation will negate the need for security. This loan type however is open to homeowner also. Many unemployed homeowners would not want to place their home as collateral during their period of unemployment. They can also apply for unsecured debt consolidation.

Secured unemployed debt consolidation will have advantages in the form of comparatively lower interest rates. Repayment terms will be flexible with the ability to borrow more. For amounts from Ј5000-Ј25,000 an unemployed will find unsecured debt consolidation more suitable. With amounts ranging from Ј25,000-Ј75,000 an unemployed will find better options with secured debt consolidation.

Debt consolidation seems like a magical cure for unemployed. But there are few debt consolidation mistakes which can make this decision prove adverse for an unemployed. Take care to choose you debt counselor or negotiator. They may claim high and mighty to an unemployed but they are not always there to help you. A counselor who promises to reduce your debt or reduce monthly payments to half are working for their own good rather than yours. Unemployed debt consolidation will not reduce your debts.

Like any other loan, unemployed will have to search for the debt consolidation loan that suits their circumstances. Loan lenders offering debt consolidation for unemployed offer great flexibility keeping in mind the unemployed condition. Short repayment terms, discounts, stand-by facility, holiday period, overdraft etc. are few of the benefits. A good debt consolidation lender will negotiate with previous lenders on the behalf of the unemployed. Ask for quote, redemption fees and check for any hidden fee.

Consolidating high interest rate loan into single loan at lower rates makes a whole lot of sense. But never leave sight of the real overall objective to save money, speed up the process of repayment and above all to become debt free! An unemployed should look for debt consolidation with the resolve not to go back to such a condition where he or she will need debt consolidation again. That will itself be a success. So when wished from the fairy godmother to make your debts vanish – it worked. Your wish started to work the moment you decided for unemployed debt consolidation.

Debt management begins with paycheck management

This is an exciting time of the year for many American consumers, as tax time approaches. No, most people are not too excited about filing their income tax return, but most people receive a refund each year, and this year that refund averages out to a little more than $2000. That windfall is usually quickly spent on a new TV or a vacation or as a down payment on a new car. Tax refunds are rarely spent wisely, which is a pity.

The average American household carries nearly $10,000 in credit card debt, and that $2000 or so could go a long way towards paying that debt down. Of course, few people will see it that way, as such a large sum of money just seems better suited towards some large purchase. But what if that $2000 was in your pocket all along? Could you have done something smarter with it?

The tax refund that most people receive each year is just that; a refund. It means that the taxpayer paid more money in taxes than he or she owed, and for the average taxpayer, that means about $170 per month. That money has effectively been lent to the government, interest-free, for a year. With most people heavily in debt, who can really afford to lend the government money at no interest for a year? Couldn't that money be put to better use year-round?

Of course it can. That money can be used each and every month to reduce debt. If consumers would simply adjust their tax withholdings by filing a new form W-4 with their employers, the amount of taxes taken out of their paychecks could be reduced accordingly. That means, on average, an extra $170 per month, every month in the paycheck. And that money would be available to make extra payments on those monthly credit card bills. It's a far cheaper and easier way to reduce debt than to go through some complicated and expensive debt consolidation plan.

The W-4 form allows tax deductions for each dependent child and offers allowances for employees who are married. Each time that status changes, employees should reevaluate their tax payments and fill out a new form accordingly. If you have no idea how much should be withheld from your paycheck, you can go to the Web site of the Internal Revenue Service and try their tax-withholding calculator. There is no reason to lend interest-free money to the IRS when you could be using that money to pay off your bills that are accruing interest at 20%. Use your money wisely.