The Best Debt Consolidation Options

Sometimes all you need to do to find the best debt consolidation company is look in the mirror. Although the entire industry is built around making you believe that you don't have any other options, you do. This article will take a look at a few of them and how you can use them to dig your way out of debt.

First, let's look at the old saying "You can't borrow your way out of debt." I couldn't agree more, and there are few statements that hold as much truth and insight as this one. However, when looking at a debt consolidation loan, you're not trying to borrow your way out of debt. You're trying to (or you should be, at least) decrease the total amount that you're paying on high interest rate debt, and thus decrease the amount of time that you need to pay it off.

Remember, compounding interest is the 8th wonder of the world, and so it goes with debt as well as savings. A credit card at 20% APR and a $1000 balance is going to hit you for $17 a month just to keep up with the interest accrual. $17 a month could add as much as 5 years onto your payoff schedule. That's a lot.

All that aside, take a look at your biggest money drains which are likely your house and your car. You may have equity in your house that you can get out in the form of a home equity loan or line of credit. Another option is refinancing into a new mortgage which might make sense if the prevailing rate is lower than what you locked in when you bought the house (assuming you went with fixed rate). Remember, though, that when you do this you're putting your house up against you unsecured debt, thus making it secured debt. This decreases the risk for the bank because they have an asset-backed loan, but in increases your risk since the bank will take your house if you default on your loan.

Cars are generally a good option as well. If you're making payments on your car, you can't afford it. Sell it and buy one with cash. Cars are depreciating assets, and it's one of the great fallacies of today's society that we equate expensive cars with wealth. In a time when you can lease a $50,000 vehicle for $350 a month, nice cars don't equal wealth. And if you speak to someone who is wealthy they'll tell you the same thing. Unless they're ridiculously wealthy. Then they'll have a driver.