All the debt in one basket

**purpleprincess**

I too am scarred by consolidating!!! :rotfl: Don't do it! Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing :rolleyes: You're lucky as you get to benefit from all of our hindsights!!!

MSE_Martin

Are we against all consolidation? No.

However the key is 'why consolidate'. Shifting debts to somewhere cheaper, and with affordable repayments is the aim. That may all be in one place it may all be seperate. The problem with consolidation is that it shouldn't be an aim. It may be a consequence of good planning though.

Take the original posters note.

Is moving all debts someone cheaper good? Yes
Is moving them all to one place good? Not necessarily but if its the cheapest way to go then it is good.
Is stretching repayment length good? No, this increases the interest you pay - so there is a balance to be had between lower repayments for the sake of affordability and the ensuing cost.

Hope this is useful

Martin

kuohu

I'm yet another board member whose debt has built up because of consolidating card debts and then respending on the cards. So a £4k loan ten years ago for a car became a £6k loan and then an £8k loan. Then I realised that it wasn't working. (Took me long enough).

debt_mountain_2

Work out what you would pay back in total to each creditor, how long this would take you and what you would pay each month then do the same for the consolodation loan. You may be able to get some of the creditors to reduce the total amount due or even freeze interest etc and factor that into the figures also.

I have consolidated my consolidations and have just done so for the last time. I did the sums and as said before don't blow the money you may be saving each month pay it to your outstanding debt ie mortgage or consolidation loan.

I contacted my creditors and got them to reduce what I owed them by 25% which saved me £3000 in total. This is a lot worse than your debt admittedly.

If it all adds up then go for it but don't blow the extra is my only advice.

Kevicho

LookingAhead wrote:

I'm a consolidation victim too! Urgh.

I know this will spark controversy but how and where did you become you a victim.

you took the loan to pay off debt, and instead of closing other accounts you continued to spend

Im not picking on you, ive done the same, lots of people have done the same thing.

In the end these loans can do good, its just the people who take them then beleive that there answers are solved and then start running up debt on the cards again

Ive took a part loan and the other part i left on low interest cards, which has overall cut the interest ive paid and has helped me out of a situation which i couldnt cope with, and made it more manageable for me at this time

At the end of the day ive become more organised/diciplined and saved myself some money by using this tool, and its my opinion that Its not the loans fault its the people, they need to realise that all credit is wrong

Oh and BTW i think these consolidation loans should come with a sub title along the sme lines as diet products come with (ie will only save you money with a carefully controlled budget)