Has anyone ever consolidated credit cards into a personal loan?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
July 31, 2018
56 replies
0 views

Hi! I am looking for advice on lowering my debt as it seems my credit cards keep rising up and up. I pay off my min. balance very month but my balance only seems to go up and not down. I have 5 cards and I heard from a friend that I could get a personal loan to pay them off and then pay the loan. Curious if anyone has ever done this or it would something like this help me????

Any advice would be great.

Thanks!

Best answer by Lady1scorp

Yes. Your friend is correct, I have done this before with my credit union. You have to apply for a personal loan, they ask how much you would like or they obtain a copy of your credit report. Whatever is your total credit card balance, let's say $5000 they pay off $5000 and you make low monthly payments on the loan amount and in return your credit cards are at a $0 balance.

Remember this is subject to approval from your bank.

Show previous replies

Willard Smith 5526

Thanks all

Domdabomb

Hi, we just consolidated 20k of high interest credit card debt into a personal loan from Marcus Goldman Sachs. My credit score jumped 35 points and I now have one bill/month instead of 8. I'm so glad we did this you should think about it.

Bluebonnet

Congrats! I know that feeling. I just paid off my 35K loan through Lending Club. Highly recommend this company!!

Mophicat

Yes. But make sure you STOP using your credit cards or your situation may get worse than what they are now.

lj8576

I tried but Sofi said nope. My CC interest is between 15-18

tbassman

Yes it is ok if you can get a better interest rate but it will be a hard inquiry on your credit report and cause your score to drop.

But it will also raise your score later as you pay it off .

LisGR09

I didn't use a personal loan, but i used national debt consolidation to pay a bunch of credit cards. Ur credit suffers for the length of your consolidation but it can go up slowly over time. Mycredit score is slowly increasing & I will finish paying off my consolidated credit cards and loans by Feb. Next year which I would have never done otherwise because I kept on reusing them! My monthly payment to them its also lower than I Was previouslypaying to the credit cards/loans companies. However you should consider a move like this only if your debt is over 15,000 (as mine was). Otherwise a personal line of credit if aproved, is better because it will not impact ur credit as much and are good for smaller debts). Good luck!

cmklein812

I never spend more than I make on my credit cards. Paying just the minimum balance when you have $500+ in credit card debt keeps you swimming in debt. I pay $100+ each statement or in between statements and I never use another card until another is paid off. Never utilize more than 20% of your available credit or you will never get ahead. The only thing killing me are my student loans but I still manage to be at 22% debt to income.

Kikijack

Hi I want just pay off my credit cards , so I need apply for $16K loan

Rostyson

I suggest that you not close any accounts, particularly if they are in good standing and are accounts that you have had for more than 2 years. I would consolidate all of my cards on a low interest account with perhaps the credit union, or a low interest rate loan. Preferably the credit union, where you will have a smaller minimum payment, and as you will also see more of that payment going towards the principal. That is what helped me. However, I was advised to close a couple of long standing accounts, which were in good standing by one of the refinance companies when applying for cash out option to pay down my debt and that was the worst mistake I could have made. It took some time to bring my credit score back up

claudek

I have been thinking about this for a couple of years now. First you need to add up all your interest. Then figure out how much your minimum payments are for all your cards per month. If you get a loan you need to make sure you can cover the monthly charge. Make sure it does not come out more than your minimum payments for the month, unless you can pay more. The longer you take out the loan for, the higher the interest rate. You can check into companies like Lending Tree, Sofi and others to see which is best for your situation. This is a soft check and it will not effect your credit score.

The reason I have not gone through with it is this. I have been able to maintain and keep my head above water by juggling things around. I have narrowed things down where I feel I am slowly getting out of debt. I tried some of those debt consolidation places but they want you to quit paying and become a dead beat. Then they will come in, get their cut, and work something out where you pay a lower amount than you actually owe. In the mean time, your credit score tanks. That is an option, though! I do not want to have to go that route but it is there, if need be. On the other hand, if you get a loan your stuck with it unless you file bankruptcy! It’s a vicious circle! I hope you can figure something out because I am just floating, right now and I am sure there are millions in the same boat.

Z1lexina

I currently have a personal loan which consisted of 4 credit card balances. I went right into my bank, spoke with a financial planner who got me a low interest rate personal loan which has a reasonable monthly payment and comes out on autopay each month. I'm saving hundreds as well as paying off my loan steadily.

Show more replies