Consolidating Debts

[Harmony83]

Hey guys how are you???
My DF and I want to consolidate all our debts, so instead of having a heap of 'smallish' credit cards/loan debt floating around just have the one big one of about $20,000 - $25,000? Anyway I was wondering if anyone can recommend a financial institution to do this, would a normal bank be better or a 'proper' debt consolidation place??? The loan will have to go under my DF's name as I am no longer working, the problem is he has a black mark against his name, and has trouble getting finance. I looked into Fox Symes but they put on your record that they had to help out financially and it stays there for 3 years - which means we wouldn't be able to purchase our own house until then (through a bank anyway.)
Does anyone have any advise???
Cheers guys
Harmony

[drewid]

Hi

We were in the same position as you guys a few years ago. We consolidated all our credit, store and personal debt into a personal loan from Westpac. Heaps easier than paying off lots of people - just the one payment to worry about.

I don't think it matters so much where you go - as long as you learn how to manage your money. It won't help if you get a consolidation loan, and then keep on using your credit cards, you know?

Personally, I prefer having our consolidation in a personal loan instead of a debt consolidation company - its our business what we needed the loan for, and no creditors out there need to be any the wiser about our financial situation. Also, we hope to buy our own home in the next few years, and don't need any marks against our name!

[SugarBlossom]

Hey harmony83,

We have just done the same and went thru CBA...which is where I worked before bub. I used to do the personal loans and it is much better to go thru a bank, as cons. companies charge more interst fees etc.

As for you partner having a bad credit rating I used to look at every individual situation before making the final decision.

Hope this helps

Jazz

[mim]

Hi

We consolidated all our debts into a $20,000 personal loan just before our son was born. I then cut up my credit card, it was the best thing I ever did. We went through Westpac and never had a problem. It makes life a lot easier and if you just make small extra payments, it really doesn't take that long to reduce.
I would advise both of you to go on the loan, if you get family tax benefit, it adds to income. Even a small amount can make a difference to how much you can borrow.

Good luck! :)

[sugar n spice]

We currently sold our house and bought a block of land and are building so we got our home loan with CBA and we chose to combine all our debts (only 1 c/c) into the home loan this way we are paying less intrest. it was the banks advice. i would reccomend going through a bank at least you know who you are dealing with also you can use net bank and moniter everything.