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Similarly, transferring a
high interest unsecured
debt
to one with lower
interest doesn't always save
you money either. Take a
look at our
debt
consolidation
questions and answers
page which assumes a $5,000
balance.
An interest rate of 13.5%
but a minimum
debt
payment of 1.67% will cost
you $9538 in interest and
take 41 years to pay off
your total
debt.
On the other hand, a higher
interest rate of 19.8% but a
minimum payment of 3% will
cost you only $5858 in
interest and take only 21
years to payoff your total
debt.
Pretend you currently
your
unsecured debt has 19.8%
interest. If you transferred
your
debt to lower interest
but requiring a lower
monthly payment, the
creditors would love you but
you are digging yourself a
deeper hole. WHY? In the
above example the lower the
monthly payment percent, the
longer the debt will last,
and the greater the interest
paid to the creditor. In
this case, lowering the
interest by almost 6% nearly
doubles the amount of
interest you have to pay...
not a smart move to
consolidate your debt.
It follows then that if
you have multiple
loans that you are
considering for
consolidation, you have
to be careful of the sales
ploy "one lower monthly
payment" or "less interest
than you are currently
paying". It simply doesn't
matter. What matters is,
what is the total interest
in dollars you currently
will pay versus what is the
total interest in dollars
with the
consolidation
loan.
Re-financing a mortgage
at a lower interest so that
you can have a lower
consolidation payment
can be the same thing. You
must calculate the total
cost in interest to know if
it will save you anything.
Remember your "debtor"
is anxious for you to lower
your payment. Why? A longer
loan earns more interest
and you now have more
monthly money to borrow
still more money.
here is only one way to
save money and only one way
a
consolidation
loan can help rather
than hinder... payoff the
debt
as rapidly as possible so
that you pay less interest.
Additionally, small amounts
can do wonders because you
have compound interest
working for you instead of
against you.
Follow our
debt
consolidation
program and add the
following amounts monthly to
your mortgage payment and
see how much $ interest you
will save and how many
months you will shave off
the time remaining on your
mortgage.
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