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With Britain's personal debt increasing by £1m every 4 minutes, over 4,000 people research and find their debt solution here every day

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Choose Homebank Financial Services for a personal and professional service across the country. Whether you are looking for: remortgage, purchase, bad credit, buy to let, self-cert, self-build, right to buy or Spanish mortgages, our qualified, local to you consultants can help.

debtadvicebureau.org.uk - provides free advice on debt and credit problems, consolidation loans, debt management, IVAs and bankruptcy.

About Payday Loans - Want to find out more about Payday Loans? Learn all about them today at our informative website full of tips and advice.

Debt Consolidation Loan - Abacus specialise in helping UK residents who have been refused a debt consolidation loan elsewhere.

Debt Management Company - Debt Management can help slash loan and credit card repayments by up to 75%. Apply Online, Free Consultation, No Obligation. Try Us.

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IVAs - Considering Bankruptcy? IVA may be the solution for you if you have debts over £15,000.

Useful Bits and Pieces

Introduction

If you have decided that the best course of action to get yourself out of debt is to obtain a consolidation loan, then please think again.  Consolidation loans are seldom the best solution for debt problems, and if you have previously consolidated debts and this is the second or more times that you have arrived at the point of consolidation then it is not likely to be the right answer for you.

There are a number of problems associated with consolidating debts, a major one being that once you have a loan covering your debts the majority of debt advice services will not be willing or able to include the loan in their negotiations with your creditors should you get yourself into further finance related problems, which unfortunately is often the case.

That said, there are times when consolidation is the way forward, if this is the case then you need to get organised before you start applying to loan companies, banks, etc., the last thing you want to do is to start making loan applications to loads of organisations, as this could backfire and affect your credit rating.

Do not start here

Debt charities call for Carol Vorderman ads to be axed

Countdown celebrity Carol Vorderman has been criticised for promoting debt consolidation loans in a new TV advertisement.  Debt charities, including the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) and Credit Action, have called on the well-known presenter to stop using her profile in the ads for the lender FirstPlus.

CCCS fear that Vorderman's reputation as a Maths whiz could cause consumers to turn to the loans when they may not be the best means of tackling a debt problem.

CCCS chairman, Malcolm Hulston, told the Daily Mail he thought the public perception of her expertise with figures could prove persuasive and feared for people in financial difficulty being lead to an inappropriate solution.

The CCCS said that people should exercise caution when signing up to a loan secured on a home, as it can lead to repossession if repayments cannot be met.

A Real Story BBC investigation also found that FirstPlus employees had offered some customers the opportunity to borrow more than the value of their homes, leading to negative equity.  It highlighted one couple who were lent £47,000 in debt consolidation when they earned just £18,000 a year between them.

A spokesman for FirstPlus, defended the company's use of Vorderman, adding that the majority of its customers "experience no problems" with loans.

tak-coo's advice is BE CAREFUL, make sure you have as much information as possible and TAKE GOOD COUNSELLING before putting your home at risk.

Where do you start?

Before you do anything you need to be able to answer positively to the following questions:

• Have you analysed and fully understood the extent of your debts?
• Do you have a regular salaried income that you can substantiate for the past six to twelve months?
• If you are successful in obtaining the loan can you cover all your essential outgoings, make the required monthly repayment, (calculate repayments on the internet), and live on the remainder of your salary for the period of the loan?
• Can you destroy your credit cards and abstain from using any form of credit for the period of your loan?
• Can you set yourself a sensible budget and stick to it?

If you are unable, or unwilling, to answer positively to these questions then it is likely that the consolidation loan, if you get one, will only delay the inevitable and create even greater hardship for you in the future.

If you answered positively then their is a chance that consolidation will resolve your problem, but only if you can obtain the loan.  This may seem obvious, but it is a fact that many people in debt, who think consolidation is the answer, start applying for loans and keep getting turned down, this can then have an adverse effect on the person's credit rating, due to credit companies thinking you are desperate for money, and the debt problem is never resolved.

If you are now convinced that consolidation is for you, you need to carry out the following:

• Add up ALL your debts and add a cushion to cover any further charges that may be added in the period leading up to obtaining the loan.
• Check your credit rating, this can be done on line free, if there are any problems, late payment, non-payment, etc., contact the companies in question and ask them if they would be prepared to remove the item in question, if unsuccessful you may have to wait six months and try again, or you may be able to obtain a loan from one of the specialist finance companies.
• If your credit history is OK, or you are considering trying a specialist company, start checking the loan companies and banks to see what deals are on offer, where possible check out whether they would consider making a loan of the amount you need.  DO NOT APPLY AT THIS STAGE.
• Once you have decided on a company that you feel comfortable with make a tentative approach, if it is an internet company read everything on their site especially their frequently asked questions (FAQ's) section, if you have questions that are not answered email the company.
• Once you are happy, and you feel there is a possibility they will make the loan available, submit your application and await the response, if the answer is no, DO NOT PANIC, and do not re-apply, do not apply again for at least three months and in the interim period contact the company and ask them if they could explain why they felt they could not give you the loan, their answer may assist you when you try again.
• If the company offers a free, or relatively cheap debt management service consider taking it, or signing up to one of the free services you will find on this site.  You may have no option as many companies now insist that you are receiving a debt management service before they will agree to loan you the money.

This may seem long winded and time consuming, but if you are a credit risk, and you are asking for a loan to consolidate debts, you need to be careful and you need to avoid making your position less attractive than it already is.  Consolidating existing debts is not an easy option and many people find they are unable to obtain a loan to cover their debts.  If this is the case do not be tempted to take a loan that will only repay some of your debts, this is definately not the answer to your problem and will only delay the inevitable.

When you receive the loan, if paying off the debts is left to you, do not be tempted to pay off only some debts and spend the money left over, pay all your debts and if there is any surplus put it in a savings account and use it as an emergency fund for those times when something goes wrong, this way you have a reasonable chance of becoming solvent, when this happens, make a pact to never ever get into debt again.

I hope this has helped, do read all the other information available on this site and follow the links provided to get further advice and assistance.  Do not panic, try to remember that you are not the first, the only or the last person to get into unmanageable debt and you need not be on your own.  There are many support networks available and masses of good advice from people who have experienced what you are experiencing, or have enabled others to get out of debt, DON'T TRY TO GO IT ALONE, and DON'T IGNORE YOUR DEBTS, they will not go away untill you do something about them.