In many cases, bankruptcy is actually easier on
your score than debt consolidation, which takes years during which your credit will continue to drop, or debt settlement, which will knock down your score without any sort of guarantee that your debt will actually be settled.
Not exact matches
Debt consolidation hurts your credit
score when you delay or reduce payments to creditors rather
than retire old obligations immediately.
The fees are minimal, and much lower
than you'll pay a settlement or
consolidation company — and you'll pay off your
debts, typically in less
than five years, without all the damage to your credit and credit
scores.
A
debt consolidation loan can help your credit
score in two ways: 1) Term loans are considered better in terms for your credit
score than having revolving credit like a credit card.
In Chapter 7 we look at the difference between credit
score and credit capacity and explain why you may want to opt for a
debt relief alternative, rather
than risking a high cost
debt consolidation loan.
While
debt consolidation might not save you as much money, it can keep your credit
score in tact and is less risky
than debt settlement or bankruptcy.
So, if you are in need of a
debt consolidation help but you have a very low credit
score, be prepared to have higher interest rate
than a borrower with a fair credit
score would have.
Debt consolidation should only be considered if the consolidated interest rate is lower
than the rates you're currently paying, which can be difficult to accomplish when your current credit
scores fall within the subprime category.
That's the teaser rate for people with the best credit, but if you have all sorts of
debt and need a
debt consolidation loan, you probably won't have the absolute best credit
score and will get a less
than decent loan.
Debt consolidation comes into play when you spend more than what you make; your card's debt keeps growing and not shrinking; the interest payments on your card debts exceed the amount spent every month; you're even finding making minimum payments difficult; your debts extend to more than five credit cards; your interest rates are more than 18.99 % on your outstanding card balances; and your credit score is dropping alarmin
Debt consolidation comes into play when you spend more
than what you make; your card's
debt keeps growing and not shrinking; the interest payments on your card debts exceed the amount spent every month; you're even finding making minimum payments difficult; your debts extend to more than five credit cards; your interest rates are more than 18.99 % on your outstanding card balances; and your credit score is dropping alarmin
debt keeps growing and not shrinking; the interest payments on your card
debts exceed the amount spent every month; you're even finding making minimum payments difficult; your
debts extend to more
than five credit cards; your interest rates are more
than 18.99 % on your outstanding card balances; and your credit
score is dropping alarmingly.
LendingClub also requires a minimum credit
score of 600 and has slightly stricter criteria for making a loan
than other leading
debt consolidation loan companies, including a stricter
debt - to - income ratio and more reliance on credit history.