People who consolidate their credit card debt with a debt consolidation loan can improve their credit rating over the long term if they consistently make their payments on time within a period of one to two years. But, it can also damage your credit score if you fail to make payments on time and are unable to meet the terms of the debt consolidation loan. Many financial loans creditors base their decisions on whether to extend credit on your current credit payment history even if you have had trouble in the past and don’t have that great of a credit score. If you consolidated your credit cards with a debt consolidation loan and are making regular payments on time, potential financial lenders will observe that all your credit card debt has been paid and you are managing the debt consolidation loan responsibly. More financial lenders are willingly to extend credit to you, thus giving you an opportunity to rebuild your credit. As long as you continue to manage your credit responsibly and within your realistic financial means, your credit rating will continue to improve. A debt consolidation loan will not improve your credit rating over the short term as it takes a minimum of one to two years of consistently paying back the debt consolidation loan before you will begin to see increases in their credit rating. It takes commitment and time to rebuild your credit rating. Now that your credit cards are paid in full with the debt consolidation loan, keep your credit card charges to a minimum, paid in full, and on time. This will reflect positively on your credit rating as well.
Disadvantages of Debt Consolidation Loans
Debt consolidation loans are not for everyone as it depends on each person’s financial portfolio and whether they have the ability to repay the loan. A debt consolidation loan can very easily contribute to your debt problems if you are not careful and unable to meet the terms. The most fundamental disadvantages of a debt consolation loan: 1. A huge risk to your assets if you are unable to pay back your debt consolidation loan in a regular and timely manner. Many people choose a secured debt consolidation loan because the interest rate is generally much lower than an unsecured debt consolidation loan. If you are unable to repay your debt consolidation loan, you will lose the assets which are mostly houses that were used to secure the debt consolidation loan. 2. If you run into trouble and you reduce your debt consolidation loan’s monthly payments even lower, it comes with the cost of increased interest rates and longer terms meaning it will take longer to pay back your debt consolidation loan at an increased interest rate which increases your debt load. 3. You can end up accumulating even more debt adding additional monthly payments along with your debt consolidation loan monthly repayment. It is very easy to slip back into old habits and start charging up the credit cards again because of the available credit. This increases the likelihood that you will be unable to pay back your debt consolidation loan and credit cards on schedule which again increases your total debt load. 4. If you have poor credit, you will likely have to pay a high interest rate on your debt consolidation loan which may actually be more than you are currently paying on your debts. The debt consolidation loan will generally be over a longer term to accommodate the higher interest and still make the monthly payments manageable. The result is that you end up paying more over the long run and it usually takes a lot longer than it would have if you had paid each debt back individually.