I keep getting things in the mail saying I'm approved for a loan to pay all my bills etc. I'm living within my means but being able to pay all my bills off and have one payment is enticing. Is there any legit things like this

Nope, run away.

 

General rule of life: if it is a unsolicited "offer", or if there is an advert for it, you don't want it.

Yea I figured that. I wouldn't trust anything that mails me. But I'm not the most knowledgeable in the financial industry. Didn't know if there is any legit form of this

They are legit businesses. But, businesses are in it to make money. Trace the money and find out if it's something you want to engage in.

 

You can always go to a bank and speak to someone there about loan consolidation.

 

C

never trust anything like this. me personally? if it doesn't have my name on it, it doesn't get past the recycle bin. if it does, but looks like something like this, it doesn't get past the recycle bin.

Your best bet it to talk to a financial adviser.

If you don't owe A LOT of money & are employed & have a 401K you may want to consider loaning yourself the money from your 401k.

 

Contact your 401k administrator or go to your 401k website for details. Basically you're liquidating holdings in 401k, taking money out, paying back yourself with interest.

 

As long as you don't leave company (fired, laid off, quit, etc) and you fully repay there should not be any penalties.

 

Good luck.

Generally speaking consolidating your loans can def save you money, sometimes a lot of money, but you have to do it the right way.

The only legit consolidation that i'm aware of is a home equity loan, or mortgage, to pay off all your other loans or credit card bills. But you need to really weigh the interest rate difference to see if it's worth it. I did this before to pay off student loans because the student loans were not tax deductible because of salary cap but the home equity loan was.

What about consolidating high interest rate credit cards to a 0% or low interest card?  Why isnt that legit?  I used to do this pretty regularly when I had credit card debt.

What about consolidating high interest rate credit cards to a 0% or low interest card?  Why isnt that legit?  I used to do this pretty regularly when I had credit card debt.

I don't think there is anything wrong with that as long as you cancel the previous card and make real effort to pay off the new one. Just transferring the ballance and then running up the old card again is the danger.

 

Also a lot of the time there may be a 0% interest on transfers, but there is a hefty fee on the transfer, often a percentage of the amount transferred so read the fine print.

The big scammy pitfall for loan consolidation is when the "service" consolidates you into a loan with terms that benefit them and have done so while pushing you into chapter 11 bankruptcy for restructuring your debt. They will use that approach to negotiate terms with your debt holders, then pass little to none of that benefit on to you. Worst case you wind up with all your debt wrapped up in a loan with higher interest than you need, have the chapter 11 get most if not all of your accounts closed, and no way out of that loan for the next 7 years because of the bankruptcy.

 

It can wind up really bad if done unwisely.

concerning credit cards......i got rid of all of mine. i use a relatives IF I ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO. otherwise, i pay check or cash for everything. credit cards are the devils spawn.

I'm not talking I'm in trouble. I can pay all my bills. I'm more interested in these papers saying I am qualified for a loan as to pay off all my items and just make one payment. Make it simpler

concerning credit cards......i got rid of all of mine. i use a relatives IF I ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO. otherwise, i pay check or cash for everything. credit cards are the devils spawn.

Credit cards don't make purchases by themselves, just like guns don't kill people. There are many excellent uses for credit cards, just try to not let them own you.

Credit cards don't make purchases by themselves, just like guns don't kill people. There are many excellent uses for credit cards, just try to not let them own you.

Thats true, credit cards dont make purchases on their own but they make purchasing a lot easier for things you cant afford, and many times people don't think of the consequences. I have first hand experience with this and have finally woken up. Know i only use debit cards and have one credit card for emergency only.

Credit cards don't make purchases by themselves, just like guns don't kill people. There are many excellent uses for credit cards, just try to not let them own you.

i know they don't. but......it is a thousand times easier to spend that money when you're not actually physically handing it over. then at the end of the month, when you get the bill, you realize you don't have the money in the checking account to cover the entire balance. then stupidly high interest kicks in, and before you know it, you're paying stupidly high monthly payments just to cover the interest. meanwhile, you're now struggling with your bills that you can't pay, 'cause you're trying to pay your cc bill on time.  ask me how i know.

 

 

 oh yea......besides them charging you interest as the purchaser (if you don't pay it off monthly....but some do have a yearly fee anyway), they charge me as the seller to be allowed to accept your card. which they charge you to use.

 

 credit cards are the devils spawn.