If you have a number of different debts, including credit cards, car loans, personal loans and the like, you may find it difficult and time-consuming to keep up with all of your monthly payments. It can also be quite stressful to have a different bill due almost every day. In cases like this, you might want to consider consolidating debt.
However, you may be worried about the risk of putting your home, business or other valuables up as collateral. This is where unsecured debt consolidation comes into play. With an unsecured loan, you do not have to have any collateral; instead, you obtain the loan based solely on your creditworthiness.
Pros
Unsecured debt consolidation can be a great option to protect your assets. Even if your financial situation changes, you won’t run the risk of losing your home or business. This can give you great peace of mind throughout the process of repaying your loan.
Cons
Although you won’t have to put up any collateral, there is still the risk of bankruptcy if you fail to make your repayments as agreed. You’ll also need to have a much higher credit rating to obtain an unsecured loan, which can make it difficult for some to get financing.
Who Can Benefit?
Unsecured debt consolidation loans are an ideal solution for those who already have a firm handle on their finances and are just looking to simplify their repayments. If you are likely to be tempted to use your credit cards again once you have used the loan to pay them off, this is probably not the right route for you to take as it will only put you deeper into debt.
If, on the other hand, you are confident in your ability to manage your finances well, this type of loan can help you to reduce your monthly payments and potentially lower your interest rate as well.
How Can You Qualify?
In order to qualify for an unsecured loan, you will need to have a relatively high credit score. If your score is not as high as you’d like it to be, you may wish to wait until it has improved before applying for this type of loan to boost your chances of being approved. Asking a trusted loved one to co-sign for you is another option to help you attain financing with less than perfect credit.