A debt consolidation loan can make sense with low interest rates and loosening credit standards, but do your homework. Image: CC lemonjenny/Flickr

If you’ve ever considered a consolidation loan to facilitate credit card debt reduction, now is a good time. Banks are reported to be loosening credit standards and interest rates are very low. However, make sure you’re consolidating debt for the right reasons, and do your homework to get the best deal.

Be aware of debt consolidation risks

Debt consolidation usually makes sense on paper for someone struggling to pay off credit card debt. Credit cards are the most expensive form of borrowing. They even have a higher interest rate than an unsecured personal loan through a bank. A strategy adopted by many people to consolidate debt is achieving lower monthly payments and a lower interest rate by using their home as collateral. This is the primary risk involved with consolidation loans: taking unsecured credit card debt consolidating that debt into a secured debt. If for some reason the borrower defaults, the lender takes the home.

What is your borrowing strategy?

Borrowers have to think a debt consolidation loan through to the end. When it comes to uncomfortable debt, relieving the symptoms does nothing to cure the disease. Simply wanting a lower monthly payment to improve cash flow is not a good borrowing strategy. Often a lower monthly payment means a longer term, which adds up to paying out a lot more money over the life of the loan. But simplifying debt reduction has its value. One payment at a lower interest rate can reduce the risk of missing a payment and help build or maintain a decent credit score.

Doing debt consolidation right

Debt consolidation, however convenient it may appear, is not a quick fix. Borrowers have to do their homework. Most importantly, make sure you know your credit score. Then analyze your debt situation. List all your debt and minimum monthly payments, plus the interest you’re being charged. Look on your credit card bills at the feature showing how much you need to pay each month to retire the debt in three years. Is a debt consolidation loan still a good idea? Be sure that you know what kind of interest rate your credit score qualifies you for. Shop around. Compare interest rates, monthly payments and fees.  Compare your current monthly payments with the debt consolidation loan payment to make sure you’re getting a better deal.

Sources

Americas News Online

Bankrate.com

Creditcards.com

Get ready to lower your medical bills

Before you start negotiating to lower your medical bills, make sure your guns are loaded before you go into battle. Check out healthcarebluebook.com, where you can find out what some of the most common medical procedures should cost. Then you will have a good idea about how much instant cash you may need for a payday loan or other kind of short term installment loan or unsecured personal loan to apply for online. With cash at hand, you could have the upper hand when haggling with the health care billing department.

Your online cash advance speaks volumes

Negotiating to lower your medical bills could end up saving you thousands of dollars, depending on your situation. CBS News called doctors’ offices across the U.S. to see what results could be achieved haggling about healthcare billing. In Manhattan, a CBS staffer got the price of an MRI on her knee down from $1,800 to $600 by calling around and offering to pay cash. They had the same success haggling down the price of mammograms in Seattle, where prices varied wildly. After some horse-trading, nearly all the providers offered lower prices, and they got an offer 60 percent less than the first one quoted. The researchers called 16 health care billing departments and only one refused to bargain.

Tips on haggling with health care billing departments

There’s really no “by-the-book” way to haggle with health care billing departments to lower your medical bills. But insure.com offers some tips to get you on the right track. A few are listed below:

Don’t put off dealing with your medical bill. Get your online cash advance and get it over with quickly.

Make a phone call or write a letter directly to the provider. Explain your situation and ask if it’s possible to get an adjustment to your charges.

Find out what others are paying: Doctors and hospitals in different areas of the country charge widely varying amounts. The American Medical Association’s Web site has a list of how much Medicare reimburses doctors for certain medical procedures.

Never pay more than private insurers pay. Insurers never pay more than one-half to two-thirds of the total amount billed.

Cash talks: Offer to pay your doctor the discounted amount you both deem reasonable in cash, immediately.

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It’s easy to get cash today

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There are lots of good reasons to get cash today

Medical bills, car repairs, appliance repairs, past due utility bills, overdrawn bank accounts, daycare expenses, veterinary visits and it’s someone’s birthday tomorrow. There are plenty of good reasons to get cash today, but the best reason to get a payday loan is that it’s just plain tough to make ends meet. When you get cash today from a quick payday advance, how you spend your money is completely up to you.

Get cash today and pay it back on payday

An unsecured personal loan can be an ideal way to clear financial hurdles. If you can pay it back from your next paycheck, a single-payment payday loan can be a real lifesaver. If you need a little more time to pay it back, an installment loan lets you make several smaller payments over longer period of time. And yes, there really are installment loans for people with bad credit.

Apply now for cash today

It takes just a few minutes to apply for cash today. If you’re like most people, your credit score has taken a few hits in recent years, but when it comes putting a little extra money in your pocket until payday, your credit score doesn’t really matter. If you’re older than 18 and have been employed for at least the last three months, chances are you can get the extra cash you need by applying right now.

Start here to get cash today!

Other people — people with fat bank accounts or hundred-dollar bills stuffed in their mattresses — may have good reasons to balance the budget. But I don’t. I live from paycheck to paycheck and I need money now. Even if I wanted to give it a try, I wouldn’t have a budget to balance. I’m always short of cash until payday, and arranging numbers in neat little columns and rows isn’t going to change that. I need cash today and I don’t have time for a fictional balancing act: I’ve got a real one going on.

It’s seven in the morning and I’m applying for a payday loan

It’s seven in the morning and I have a semi-emergency doctor appointment at two, a kid reminding me for the umpteenth time about his soccer fees and uniform, a cut-off notice from the phone company staring up at me from the kitchen counter where it’s been languishing for a week, and a big, hungry dog listening for food to hit the bowl. It’s seven in the morning and I have just enough time to apply for an emergency payday loan before I make an apologetic offering to the dog and explain that I’m running off to the paycheck factory again so we can all have more dog food. Balance the budget? It doesn’t even remotely apply.

I’ve been playing with the numbers all night, and I need a payday loan to balance this

It might be more accurate to say that I’m obsessed with balancing the budget. I balance the budget all night long. I worry about numbers and dollars and debits and credits from sundown to sunup, but they’re not worth committing to paper. And as long as I’m on this confessional roll: Today wasn’t the first time I’ve ever gotten a payday loan, either. Nor was it the first time I’ve thanked my lucky stars for that extra cash. I’ve kept my act in balance with a payday loan on more than one occasion, and no doubt I’ll do it again.

In just a few hours, I’ll have a $300 payday loan in my bank balance

I really do try not to borrow money. I live pretty simply and my mortgage is my only debt. But I have two soon-to-be-college-bound kids, a job where I work like a dog, and a dog whose job it is to eat like a horse. Sometimes my paycheck just won’t go the distance. When I need emergency money and I know that I can still get by after paying it back from my next paycheck, I get a payday loan.

If you can think of a good alternative to a payday loan, by all means, give it a try

Payday lenders take a lot of heat these days, but in my opinion, payday loans have their place. When you really need cash until payday, a quick payday loan is worth every red cent. You can’t exactly walk into your local bank and ask for a small, unsecured, personal loan for a week, now can you? I mean, of course, without some stiff in a suit calling security.

You can get a payday loan of up to $1500 by applying right here

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