Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with debtconsolidation

Can I blame my money problems on Jim Kramer?

All.star — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:50:17 -0800

Have you ever used a debt consolidation/management company? What was your experience with them like? Can you recommend one? After doing a search on AskMeFi, I can't really find any recommendations - only people saying not to ever use one.

I don't necessarily want to discuss my debt or how to get out of it, I'm just looking for recommendations on debt consolidation companies.

Twice-Consolidated Student Loans?

nosila — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:48:28 -0800

I have already consolidated my student loans (federal Stafford loans) with Brazos, and I am not happy with them. Is it possible for me to move these loans to another lender? Is there a down side to doing so? I have around $50,000 in debt that I'm currently deferring (about to be a student again). I recently screwed up and agreed to a temporary forbearance while some deferment paperwork went through. As a result, the company is refusing to allow me to keep my incentive plan, which means that I'll end up paying significantly more in the long term.

I do plan to continue to appeal their decision, but assuming they will not reinstate my incentive plan, any suggestions? FYI, I plan to spend the first five years or so after my PhD living very frugally (which I'm completely used to) and paying everything off. Despite my loan debt, my credit is pretty decent. (Not stellar, not bad.)

Thanks!

How can I investigate/remedy possibly misleading loan agreements from several years ago?

slavlin — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 17:18:19 -0800

Debt/Loan Filter: I was stupid with credit and debt when I was younger. Is there anything I can do now? More details inside. When I was in college, I did not manage my credit properly and wound up taking out a debt consolidation loan. I started out with about $8000 in debt in 1999 and due to poor choices on my part and, I believe, possibly misleading loan officers, I still have $4000 left to repay now.

I refinanced it a couple of times, which was dumb, but I suspect that the loan companies misled me about how much I was refinancing and tacked on additional charges. I don't even know if I could track down copies of those original loan documents, but is there anything that anyone could think that I could do to investigate or remedy my situation, without increasing my debt more, of course?

Want to cheapen my debt expenditures. Know of any cheap money (unsecured loans)?

zpousman — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 07:29:03 -0800

Cheap Money Filter: I've got a moderate amount of credit card debt right now ($15k), at reasonable but not great rates (13-18%). I'll be making more money in the upcoming year, and the debt load is manageable, but I want to explore trading these loans with an unsecured line-of-credit type loan or some other loan. Advice? Suggestions on where to get a good rate (i.e. got any good junk mail lately)? Should I even look at a credit card loan (i.e., open a new card and transfer balances)? These have the advantage of having low introductory rates, and, if the rate lasted a year, that's a year of free money (I'll probably pay this debt off in 2 years). I've got a flyer from B of A with a 9.9% fixed loan that seems like it would serve me well. It's a line of credit (unsecured). Has anybody gotten similar but better offers in the recent past? Pitfalls to avoid? If so, I'd love to hear about it. I see that lending tree can show me loans of this type, but I'm sure that means trading info for thousands of pieces of email and junkmail.

Drowning in debt

squidlarkin — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 13:49:15 -0800

I've got around $8000 in credit card debts, my minimum payments are costing me as much as my rent, and the interest rates are so high that I'm not gaining any ground. Help! Obviously just paying the damn things off would be the simplest fix, but my income's pretty low (and it's the first job I've had in years that didn't put me in a crippling depression, so I'm not switching), and my life expenses are cut down to the minimum, and I'm still missing phone bill payments.

Mostly I'm looking for recommendations of debt consolidation agencies; I could just google, but I don't want to just go with whoever's paid the most on SEO work and web design, I want someone I know won't screw me over. Also I should mention that my credit's pretty poor and I have absolutely no sort of collateral. Whee!

Putting my eggs in one basket?

synecdoche — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 14:41:46 -0800

Should I get another credit card? Right now, I have two credit cards, that I carry a balance on monthly. Yesterday, I received notice from my bank that I am eligible for a credit card with them (my other two are with different banking institutions). The interest rate on the new card would be lower (6% lower), and I could use it to pay off the balance on my other two credit cards, consolidating the two bills into one. This particular card has no special interest rate for balance transfers.

But is this a good idea? I have been told that I am pre-approved for a certain amount (that covers the other balances), but I don't know if getting another credit card will compromise my credit rating, or if it would make a difference if I paid off the other two, and then cancelled them outright.

The other added benefit is that it would put all my important banking things with one bank.

I am in Canada, by the way, if that makes a difference.

Mortgage issues make me nervous

chudmonkey — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 15:39:08 -0800

Re-Mortgaging: Advice/Warnings for a Canadian? I currently own a condo in Calgary, Alberta. Due to Calgary's current real-estate boom and the particular awesomeness of my condo, I have every reason to assume that it is worth signifigantly more than I paid for it 1 year ago - I'd say that a $50-75,000 increase in value would be a conservative estimate.

My current mortage is a 5-year fixed-rate (4.5%) from a major national bank (TD).

My gf (co-owner) and I have approx $8000 in total debt, all at much higher interest rates. We don't really have any spare income month-to-month - every dollar goes to household bills, paying down debt and some meager savings. We want some sort of debt-consolidation solution to take advantage of a lower interest rate (and reduced monthly payments if possible) and we'd also like to spend some money in the home, on some light renovations, painting and appliance upgrades.

I've gotten a lot of recommendations that I re-mortgage the condo to "unlock equity" and get my hands on some cash, but while everyone seems keen to recommend this, no one I know personally has ever done so, and I'm really unclear on how the process would work.

This is how I think it works: I get a 2nd mortgage for an amount closer to the current value of my home. I use the proceeds from that to pay off my current mortgage, and the difference is money that I can use for other things.

Is this correct? Have you done it? What's the catch? Aside from the fact that I'll wind up with a larger mortgage, what future concerns might this create? Would the 2nd mortgage have to be from a different lender? Do I need to have my condo appraised before proceeding?

There's a lot on info on the 'net, and I've tried to process what I've found, but I'd really appreciate some real-world perspective and advice on things.