Archive for April, 2009

How To Consolidate Your Debt

Saturday, April 11th, 2009



If you have a lot of debt, you may be wasting your money. Many times, when our debt is mostly in credit cards, we are paying an enormous interest rate. This can make your payments higher and means that you will pay far more than you ever borrowed over the long run.

If much of your debt is in high interest credit cards, you might want to consider consolidating. What this means is taking out one loan that is large enough to pay off all your other debts. Then you pay off the high interest credit cards and make one payment each month. You can typically get a loan with a much lower interest rate than that of your credit cards, so your payment is lower than the total payments you were making. Plus, you will be able to pay the debt off more quickly.

Consolidating debt is fairly easy if you own your home. You can often get a home equity loan at a very low interest rate. Home equity loans allow you to borrow in the equity you have in your home, which is the difference between what you owe on your mortgage, and what your home is currently worth. However, if you sell your home before the home equity loan is paid off, you will have to use proceeds from the sale to pay the loan off, just as with your primary mortgage, because this loan is also secured by your home.

If you’re not a homeowner or don’t have enough equity in your home to borrow against, there are companies that offer debt consolidation services. These services are designed for people who are having trouble making their monthly payments. These services can be very helpful to those who are drowning in debt, because they can help them have a monthly payment that they can afford. However, this service comes with a price. Debt consolidation services get you a lower monthly payment by contacting your credit card companies and having your payments or interest rate reduced. This is helpful, but the fact that you’ve gone this route will be reported on your credit report and may keep you from being able to get more credit for several years.

By: Dee Marie

Ft Worth Debt Consolidation – A Great Idea For Today’s Consumer

Friday, April 3rd, 2009



If you are like many people, you feel it is safer to carry a credit card for making purchases rather than cash. The ease of credit card purchases makes the cards invaluable, even essential sometimes, in order to make reservations, book a rental car, or buy airline rickets. But because of their ease of use, consumers are often tempted into building up a great deal of credit card debt. Oftentimes, temptation has nothing to do with credit card debt, but rather an emergency arises for which you do not have the immediate cash to cover. In these types of instances, the credit card can cover the expense. However, those minimum monthly payments that the credit card company requires do very little in paying down the principal, because most of the payment goes to paying interest. This very likely would be a great time to consider the advantages of Ft. Worth debt consolidation.

Why Should I Consolidate My Debts?

Homeowners, over time, build equity in their homes. That equity can be borrowed against in the form of a home equity loan, which also goes by the name of a second mortgage. You are given roughly the amount of equity you have earned out in a cash payment which can be used for any legal purpose. Many people use this cash equity to pay down their credit card debt.

Now, instead of spending time making out several payments for several bills, you can pay off those debts and simply make one loan payment for the home equity loan to your loan company. The convenience of one payment is one reason why Ft. Worth debt consolidation appeals to many.

The monthly savings are another reason. The first step is to add up the total of your monthly mortgage payment and the payment amounts of the bills you wish to consolidate. Armed with this information, you will want to speak with a Ft. Worth debt consolidation mortgage broker. This financial expert will help you compare costs with a variety of different loan instruments, and will endeavor to find you the best deal to save you money. In many cases, the combined total of your first and second mortgage payments may be considerably less than your first mortgage and all of your bill payments.

A final important reason to take advantage of Ft. Worth debt consolidation is the tax incentive. The interest charged on credit card payments is not tax deductible. Interest payments made as a part of your monthly mortgage payment typically are tax deductible. This deduction can also be taken if you have a home equity loan. You can save a lot of money by transferring taxed credit card interest debt over to a home equity loan with interest debt that can be written off. Ft. Worth debt consolidation can make this scenario possible for you.

By: Jonathon Blocker