What is debt consolidation?
Debt consolidation is a process whereby an individual rolls up several different debts and transfers them to one creditor with one monthly payment. This can be achieved by taking out a personal loan, a credit card or you can remortgage, raise capital from your lender and pay off your existing unsecured debt. You will need to have enough equity in your property for this to happen. There are risks with securing other debts to your mortgage but if thought out properly it can enable you to make a significant monthly saving when compared to paying each account monthly.
What are the benefits of consolidating my debts?
The main benefit of consolidating your unsecured debt within your mortgage is to make a monthly saving on your outgoings. With transport costs, the price of consumer gas and electric bills and food shopping being in an inflation bubble our monthly budgets have never been under so much pressure. For a lot of people having varying amounts of payments going out to multiple different creditors can also be stressful. There is much more financial administration needed to keep on top of various creditors rather than having just one monthly payment to your mortgage lender.
What are the negatives of consolidating my debts?
You will need to fully weigh up your options and decide whether consolidating previous unsecured debt into a mortgage secured on your home over a long payment term is the right thing for you to do. Ultimately you will more than likely pay more money overall with the debt consolidated into your mortgage than you would compared with keeping your shorter-term unsecured payments in place but this decision will usually come down to your individual affordability and monthly payments. Make sure you speak with a mortgage expert who will compare and advise on this for you.