Secured Or Unsecured - Making the Right Bill Consolidation Choice

Bill consolidation is a financially sound way of getting yourself out of debt, which is not an unrealistic scenario given the numerous problems plaguing our economy at this point in time. Think about it: by availing from a consolidation service, you basically pay less for your debts, as the interest rate you pay for is less than the combined interest rates of your many, smaller debts. There are two main choices to choose from when you are making a decision whether how you want the consolidation service to avail of: you have the option of taking an unsecured loan, or a secured one.

It is important that you are well-informed of your choice, as this is what will make or break your venture into availing of these services. Many an uninformed client has lost some immensely valuable property of his due to a bad decision regarding these two options. Here, then, are the basics of secured and unsecured bill consolidation loans:

First up are unsecured loans, which are the simpler of the two. Secured loans are easy to understand: the consolidator, whether a bank, a consultant, a consultation company or the like, pays off all your debts, creating instead a single, large debt for you to pay off. The main advantage of the entire idea of consolidation is that having a single large debt, with a single interest rate, is easier to pay off in the long run than multiple debts, each with their own interest rates. The consolidator, in turn, earns from the significantly lower (but still profitable for them) interest rate you pay them, making the whole thing something akin to a win-win situation: you pay less for interest, they earn.

Secured loans are a noticeably different scenario, all due to the presence of another factor: collateral. Secured loans are popular for having lower interest rates than unsecured ones, which are made possible by the collateral's presence entering the equation. Collateral is usually in the form of a house or car, or something or similar value. It is an item you offer up as "security" that you will be able to pay your loan off. This is where you can begin to see the risk involved with such a loan: when you are not able to pay off your loan, the consolidator is legally allowed to take possession of whatever you offered as collateral, in order to pay off the rest of your loan.