Perhaps the most common secured loan is a debt consolidation loan. A debt consolidation loan is secured most generally by using your home as collateral, once the equity on your home has been determined.
Debt consolidation is a system that reduced debt by allowing the consumer to take all her or his debts and combine them into one debt and therefore one payment. While on the face of it this secured loan does not seem logical. Taking unsecured loans and putting them all in one basket that threatens the roof over your head if not paid.
Where is the sense in that? Well, the sense in a secured debt consolidation loan is that you are replacing unsecured loans such as credit cards (that charge a very high rate of interest) with one whose interest rate is considerably less. This saves you money – sometimes a great deal of money.
There is also a lot to be said for the ease and time efficiency of paying only one bill. In fact, a secured debt consolidation loan payment is usually made for the debtor by the company. She or he does not even have to write the check or put the stamp on the envelope.
What is especially good about a secured debt consolidation loan is that you have a company and representative working with you that is often on a first name basis with many lender representatives.
She or he can step in and negotiate a really great low interest rate for you, may even get the balance reduced on your current debts, get your lenders to write off some late fees, and set the term when all your debts are going to be paid off. The amount a consumer can save with a secured debt consolidation loan can be very great.
Using this kind of secured loan to get yourself out of debt is so much more financially advantageous than just continually paying off the minimum balance on each of your credit cards for the rest of your natural life.
Perhaps even more important that the savings you will see with this kind of secured loan is the fact that your creditors relish your consolidating your debts in this manner. Creditors fear the alternative – your bankruptcy – which could wipe out their debt and their ability to recoup their money, or at least most of their money.
For the consumer the secured debt consolidation loan is preferable to a bankruptcy because the first improves your credit standing. The second destroys it, for at least seven years anyway.
There are literally hundreds of debt consolidation lending firms in the United States alone, with many opportunities online to apply for a debt consolidation loan, get advice on the best options, compare rates and terms and even be approved.
Some debt consolidation firms will purport to give you an online quote but actually ask the questions and then ask for your contact information so their sales people can call you with the estimate. You will want to avoid these if you can. Look for an online secured debt consolidation lender site that actually provides the estimate of what you could borrow and at what rate and payment schedule and then allows you to be pre-approved – all on the Web.
What you will typically need to supply is the market value of your home, the balance on your mortgage, your payments and your rate of interest, how much you need to borrow, and your zip code. From this you will get an idea on what your secured loan would look like.
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