It's quite a common thing these days, but many homeowners and tenants consider taking out a loan to consolidate their debt. Strange thing when you think about it - taking out a loan to try and reduce your monthly outgoings, but for many, it's an obvious solution that brings stability to their finances and gives them a chance to plan for the future.



So what exactly is 'debt consolidation'?

If you're reading this, chances are you already have some existing unsecured credit - personal unsecured loans, credit cards, store cards or perhaps catalogue credit? Todays modern lifestyles and opportunities go hand in hand with many different forms of credit. Loans for cars, furniture, holidays, weddings and many more reasons besides are more common than ever before. It's not surprising things get a bit complicated every now and then.

A debt consolidation loan enables you to put all of your unsecured loans and credit into one and thereby have only one monthly repayment to remember. Simple! There are other advantages too. Very often, some forms of unsecured credit can carry high APR's. 15-20% for credit cards is common and 25-35% is also common for store cards and catalogue credit. A debt consolidation tenant loan could be achieved at a far lower interest rate, saving you money. At the same time, why not also think about raising some additional cash to treat yourself to something you really want? It would make it so much easier to do this at the same time.

Can anyone get a debt consolidation loan?

So now we know why so many people consider taking out a debt consolidation loan, but where can you go to get one? Well, you could be in luck. There are many lenders and finance brokers out there that you can go to although sadly, not every one of them may specialise in this area.

A lender will take a look at your financial circumstances and run what is known as a credit search on you. This means that they will go to one of the credit reference agencies to take a look at what credit you already have and what your recent payment records have been like. Every time anyone borrows money, a new record is created and is available for any subsequent prospective lender to access. It's also worth remembering that your credit rating may be adversely affected by increased applications for credit over a short period of time.

Having seen your credit record, they will be able to fairly and accurately assess their risk in lending you the money you have applied for and they will apply an interest rate to your loan in accordance with this level of risk. So, in real terms, the better you have managed your finances in the past, the lower your risk to any subsequent lender and the easier and cheaper it will be for you to borrow again in the future.

Taking out an unsecured tenant loan is arguably easier now than ever before and many people are realising that to do so to consolidate their debt is a good idea. Not everyone is successful however because of their credit history problems but it's always worth asking the question. You may be surprised at what can be achieved. You and your finances may never look back!

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