Financial question: Debt Consolidation loans

"Tohru" (tohrurokuno) 12/08/2015 at 00:10 • Filed to: None

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Have any of you ever had to get one? How awful was the process?

Due to some financial difficulties I had some medical bills go to collections. If I don’t pay off the $1600 by January 1st they’ll report it to the credit bureaus and make my credit even worse. They mentioned the option of a debt consolidation loan. If I lumped all my miscellaneous non-house debts I’d be at about $2500 or so.

The only sticky point in this plan is that if a 750 credit score is a solid A grade, my credit score is a D-.

Weigh in with your comments, advice, or mockery at my financial mismanagement in the comments below!

George McNally > Tohru 12/08/2015 at 00:20

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I startyed a business 10 years ago and borrowed a few thousand bucks to get it off the ground.....unfortunately things didn’t work out as well As I would have liked and I was about 4 grand underwater.

I took out a debt consolation loan, paid it off and never looked back. If you can do the same....make sure it’s something you can pay off every month and pay it off early if possible.

thedevilinside > Tohru 12/08/2015 at 00:21

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I have no experience and am far from an expert, but good luck and be careful with loan places. I see a lot of stories about the fine print making interest huge if you aren’t careful.

Maybe a credit card with no interest for first 12 months? Not sure if you can get a card that fast or with low score. idk

ttyymmnn > Tohru 12/08/2015 at 00:24

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I have never done one of these, nor would I ever mock anybody's financial situation. Shit happens. But $2500 is not an insurmountable number. If you're working, and you can make regular payments, then it seems like a decent option. But I'm no financial adviser. Sounds like you might need to tighten your belt for a while.

iSureWilll > Tohru 12/08/2015 at 00:43

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Have you tried talking to them about lowering the amount or any kind of debt forgiveness? Most hospitals will work with you on bills. I mean, the poors can get medical care for free (thanks Obama!).

I've known several people that got bills over $1000 paid in full by the hospital leaving them with no debt since they could prove they didn't have the money. You'll need to provide bank statements and such.

PatBateman > Tohru 12/08/2015 at 01:32

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Time out. DEFINE “debt consolidation loan”. Will this be a personal loan from a bank, or a company that will be collecting payments from you and negotiating with your current creditors?

TheRealBicycleBuck > Tohru 12/08/2015 at 07:02

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A friend of mine is in the health insurance business. His advice is to wait the 90 days (you already have) and then negotiate a fair payoff amount and schedule. That is his standard advice for anyone who is having trouble paying the full bill.

Wobbles the Mind > Tohru 12/08/2015 at 07:50

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Go to your/a Credit Union or Bank and speak to someone about getting an Unsubsidized Loan. Bring them the information needed on the things you need paid off. What will happen is that the CU or Bank will pay that/those off and you will then be set up on a 3 year plan to pay off that. At $2,500 and poor credit, it should still be around $100 monthly.

If you have credit card debt, I would suggest adding those into the loan. It forces you to pay them off, have a lower APR, and will actually improve your score significantly in less than 6 weeks. Just make sure you hide your credit cards, but don’t cancel them since they will need to act as an emergency fund for situations like these until you’re able to build up a savings (which takes years when you’re young).

shop-teacher > Tohru 12/08/2015 at 12:17

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First off, $2500 is a very manageable amount of debt. Props to you for sitting down and working on getting it taken care of now. I know many people who well and truly buried themselves before they attempted to get their shit together.

A few people mentioned trying to get a loan from a local bank or a credit union, and I second this as a good idea. Another option you may have is to liquidate some things. Sell extra cars/trucks/tools and pay off that $1600. I have to idea where your fleet is at right now.

Additionally, since you own a house, you may be able to get a home equity line of credit at a lower interest rate than an unsecured loan.

Tohru > PatBateman 12/08/2015 at 19:19

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Loan. No third-party company. I don’t trust that stuff.

PatBateman > Tohru 12/08/2015 at 19:39

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Just be careful of the interest rate they give you. Uncollateralized personal loans have higher interest rates than car or home loans, but they can be worth it.

This goes without saying, but ALWAYS make on time payments. One late payment can screw up your credit badly.