It’s easy to collect credit cards and buy on hire purchase. But along the way, you could find you have collected a whole mountain of debt. If you are also struggling to make the minimum repayments on time, the additional fees can mean your level of borrowing quickly escalates.
A “debt consolidation loan” is one option to consider when you need to get your debt under control. However you need to go into it with your eyes open because these sort of loans have their disadvantages as well, and can even lead you down the path to facing debt collection agencies NZ wide.
A debt consolidation loan combines multiple debts into one. If you’ve built up a debt on a number of high-interest loans, combining them onto one lower rate can give you the breathing space you need to really attack the debt and get it down.
The advantages of debt consolidation are that you have one single payment a month and can budget more easily. You may also get a lower interest rate, or the debt can be spread over a longer period, giving you lower monthly outgoings.
But be careful not to think of debt consolidation as a magic bullet that will solve your debt problems. By adding the debt to your 30-year mortgage, for example it’s easy to end up paying more in interest in the long run.
It can also be difficult not to keep falling back into bad borrowing habits. When you add a relatively small loan to your large mortgage, it can seem to reduce the loan’s significance, making it easy to forget and even to continue borrowing. Consolidating your debt can be a good option in some circumstances but it’s also a really good idea to get budgeting advice at the same time.
