Melissa Kellett asked: Debt consolidation is a complex process and the aid of professionals is almost always needed. However, it is smart not to confide too much on the consolidation agents and keep an eye on whatever they do with your debt. A proper supervision of their work can save you a lot of trouble and probably money too.
As with any financial product, debt consolidation is provided by many different agents. The debt consolidation market is packed with different consolidation agencies offering their services to anyone who needs them. However, there are also unscrupulous agents and agents that though are legit, are just beginning to work on the field and their expertise is not that promising.
What Debt Consolidation Agents Do
There are different debt consolidation programs and a wide variety of actions that debt consolidation agents can do in order to reduce the amount of debt you hold and the weight of that debt in terms of interests and monthly payments. All these actions have consequences and you should discuss them with your agent in order to avoid future problems.
Among the things that debt consolidation agents can do are the following actions: negotiating with your creditors new repayment programs, debt cancellations, reductions, interest eliminations and reductions, closing accounts, opening new accounts, transferring balances, taking up loans to repay debt, etc.
All the above have serious implications in your credit and can reduce or eliminate your ability to get finance during the consolidation process and later too. Thus, you should make the agent well aware of your financial needs prior to him starting the debt consolidation program. Whether he takes full control of your finances or not, his actions will irremediably have consequences that you need to consider.
Debt Negotiation, Reductions And Cancellations
When a debt consolidation agent negotiates with your creditors he can modify the variables of your debts. But these modifications will have immediate consequences on your credit. A repayment program extension will modify your income to debt ratio not only on the current loan years but on the years added too. Besides, the lenders may decide to inform that their debt has been subject to negotiation to the credit bureaus which will trigger an alarm on most lenders in the future when they read your credit report.
Opening And Closing Accounts
Both opening and closing accounts do not have to carry consequences to your credit provided that are done moderately. But if you suddenly close all but one of your many accounts, your credit will undoubtedly reflect this fact and not precisely in a positive way. Any report that shows lenders that you have been included in a debt consolidation program will scare them away if you want to get finance in the near future.
Transferring Balances And Taking Up Loans
To consolidate debt you can transfer
credit card debt to other low interest cards or take a loan to consolidate all your debt into a single monthly payment. If a loan is taken, your debt will increase, because although the balances will be paid, on your report, the credit cards will remain as outstanding credit. And if your credit cards are cancelled and the accounts closed, that will also be reported and will show up on your credit report.
Thus, you should expect low chances of getting approved for new loans in the near future if you plan to consolidate your debt. However, that is probably the whole idea of debt consolidation: To avoid new debt and eliminate progressively your current debt so you can become debt free and your credit score starts to recover.
Jo
