If you have a home loan, we can help you get your debts paid off by extending your home loan to cover them. The big bonus with this is that you will pay less interest on your debt than with a personal loan or credit card.

A personal loan from a general lender is the next option to look to – it has higher interest rates than a home loan, but usually lower than a credit card.

If you don’t qualify for a loan from a general lender, you might be able to go to a specialist debt consolidation lender. With these kinds of lenders, you need to be aware that because of your debt, you probably won’t qualify for the low interest rates they advertise on TV. You need to make sure you’re actually paying less interest on the debt consolidation loan than you are on your current loans.

Generally, the pros of debt consolidation loans are that you will only have to manage one payment and one creditor, and usually you’re at a lower interest rate.

There are a few things to look out for with these kinds of loans:

• You will probably have to pay an establishment fee when you take out your loan, and you may face fees for paying back your other loans early.
• If you’re making a lower repayment for a longer period of time, due to interest you may find that you end up paying more money in total over the life of the loan.
• A consolidation loan can help you manage the symptoms of debt; but it doesn’t help with the cause. You need to understand that you’re still in a lot of debt, and have the self-control to not borrow more money or take out more credit.