Debt Loans | Amortization Plan

9 Steps to Get Out of Debt – Part 3

Step 3 – Analyze Your Debt

The next step is to figure out exactly how much you owe. First, make a list of every debt you have. Not just credit cards, everything. Credit cards, department store credit, mortgages, car payments, unpaid past-due bills, student loans — everything.

You do not need to count items such as recurring bills like electric, gas, cable, etc. These are not debt, they are recurring expenses. At any time you could shut these off and not owe any additional money, although it may make life unpleasant, to say the least.

Once you have a list of what you owe, you need to determine what your remaining balance is on each item, the current interest rate and your monthly payment for each debt. On most loans you’ll be able to find this information on your monthly bills. However, you may have to make some phone calls to get this information for other debt. Add the remaining amount on each of these items together, this is your total amount of debt. Also, add together your monthly payments for each of these debts to determine the total monthly cost of your debt.

Now, you need to determine how much this debt is going to cost you if you continue making the payments you currently are. You can do this by completing an amortization table for each debt. Don’t worry, we’re not going to make you do this yourself, you can use our amortization calculator located at destroydebt.com. This will tell you two key pieces of data: how much each debt is going to cost you, and when it will be paid off. Add the total cost of each loan together; this is the total cost of your debt. This number can be scary at first, but don’t get too worried yet, this should be the last time you see this number.

If your total monthly debt is greater than 50% of your net monthly income, or you have found yourself in a situation where you are unable to pay your bills and have fallen behind by several months, I would suggest you stop here and seek the advice of a professional financial counselor. Otherwise, continue on.

By: Jeremy Zongker

Tags: Advice, Amortization, Amortization Calculator, Amortization Table, Car Payments, Coun, Credit Cards, Credit Mortgages, Current Interest Rate, Debt Loans, Debts, Department Store Credit, Due Bills, Last Time, Money, Pay Bills, Phone Calls, Phone Information, Steps To Get Out Of Debt, Student Loans
Posted in Finance · July 29th, 2010 · Comments (0)

Student Debt Consolidation Loans

More than a few students would benefit from knowing more about student loan consolidation because for most it means help in managing the stress related to student loan repayment. Well student loan debt consolidation is the act of putting together all your student loans into one combined loan so as to aid in managing your financial debt caused due to college or any trade school.

Once you combine or consolidate student loans, you will then have only a single monthly payment to make. Also, that single payment is more often than not, lower than what your combined monthly payments of an unconsolidated student debt would sum up to be. This is payment ends up being lower simply due to the fact that once you consolidate loans you are usually offered an extended time period to pay off the debt. Sometimes this period can extend up to even thirty years. Most people find the lower payment to be a huge benefit that of course it is. However, consolidation may also lead to your paying more interest, over a longer length of time, than you what you would have paid with your combined unconsolidated debt.

It is a fact that student debt consolidation loan rates are in general of a lower amount than unconsolidated loan rates. Also, most commonly the student loan consolidation rates are fixed. The interest rates however are more often variable in the case of unconsolidated loans. This means that the rates can change at any given time and that too sometimes even without much warning. In the case of a fixed rate, the monthly interest will stay the same throughout the complete period of your consolidated student loan.

If you require detailed information on student debt consolidation loans, you can normally get it from any financial aid office of any educational institution. Another option is that you can even request the information from the original holder of your debt. It is always wise to keep your options open for student debt consolidation loans as it can be beneficial for most students.

By: Max Bellamy

Tags: Consolidation Loan Rates, Debt Consolidation Loans, Debt Loans, Educational Institution, Length Of Time, Single Payment, Student Loan Repayment, Student Loans
Posted in Finance · June 12th, 2007 · Comments (0)

Amortization Plan

9 Steps to Get Out of Debt – Part 3

Student Debt Consolidation Loans

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