By John Harkes

Consolidating your debt has a lot of advantages, but there are also a lot of scams that you be afraid of. A few online companies present themselves as non profit but they do not hold that title. They are actually for profit companies. So be very aware of that. Also before consolidating make sure tp find out if the lender will give lower rates if you meet certain criteria.

Also, when you consolidate your debt, you are starting over with a new time period, so it can actually take a bit longer for your interest rate to go down. One thing that I do not recommend is debt consolidation through a second mortgage or a bank loan. Those are called secured loan and you could lose your home is you cannot pay the bills.

Many people respond to this debt consolidation as if they have no more debt, and go out and charge up their cards again. Thus, it is easy for a person in debt to end up in even more debt after they consolidate, and there are only so many times you can consolidate. Another disadvantage to a debt management program is that you cannot get new credit during this time. For some people, this is a good thing, as they must learn discipline, but emergencies do happen and expenses occur. As well, some debts may not qualify for the debt management program, and so you will still have to make multiple payments each month.

I understand that emergencies happens and in those cases, debt consolidation is more of a hindrance. Some of your debt may not even qualify for debt consolidation, so you may still have to make additional monthly payments to those.

Your mortgage cannot be included in a debt consolidation loan specially if you are using a second mortgage or a bank loan. Besides that, you must qualify for the loan with the bank and this can be very difficult.

As you can see, there can be a lot of disadvantages to debt consolidation, but there are also advantages so you have to be aware of all of them before making a decision.

While there are a number of disadvantages to consolidating, you may find it is the best choice for you and your family. Simply be aware of the need to research each company and examine any loan offer carefully.

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