Consolidate your debt

Photo: financialpartnersgroup.com

If you're carrying high interest credit card debt, car loans or other personal loans, you know it can be challenging to pay off everything that you owe.

If you are a homeowner and there is sufficient equity in your property, consolidating all your debt and including it in your mortgage payment might be the right solution for you.

There are many benefits to debt consolidation including the following:

• A much lower monthly interest rate for all of your debts
• Lower monthly payments
• The comfort and convenience of making only one monthly payment instead of making multiple payments on your credit cards and other loans
• Improving your credit score by reducing the amount you owe and now being able to make all of your payments on time

A debt-consolidation mortgage is not a quick fix and a full financial review should be completed with your mortgage broker. There could be costs to break your current mortgage to include those higher interest debts with your mortgage payment.

You may be lowering your current monthly payments, but now the debt is going to be repaid over a longer period of time. Is that really going to be financially beneficial?

It all comes down to the math, as the overall cost of borrowing could be higher or lower than what you are currently paying. Crunching all the numbers is the only way to know for sure.

There is also another real danger to consider. Are you disciplined enough to stick to a budget and live within your current income or will you be tempted to use those credit cards again and end up in exactly the same situation in the near future?

It can become a vicious circle unless you learn to live within your budget. You don’t want to end up in the same place a year from now.

On the other hand, if you are disciplined and can live within a budget, the benefits of the increased monthly cash flow could significantly improve your financial situation. These extra funds might be used for investing in your retirement with RRSP contributions and having an emergency financial fund in place for life’s surprises.

There are several possible options to consider for a debt-consolidation mortgage, including breaking your current mortgage to include the debt owed, a second mortgage for the consolidation or a home equity line of credit.

Now, all that’s left is to figure out precisely which solution is best for you to wipe out all those high interest payments.

If you would like a review, please give me a call.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.