Posted by Leah Gorham
By MP Dunleavey
If you're up to your eyeballs, the fantasy of debt consolidation can suck you right in. Watch out for the slippery side of consolidation loans, balance transfers and other 'easy fixes.'
The phrase "debt consolidation" has always had a magical ring to me.
As if somehow, someone would have the power to mush my debt into one neat little package, which by some incredible financial alchemy would also then shrink the debt itself -- and I'd only owe a hundred bucks or so.
I know I'm not the only idiot who's had this fantasy, because an entire industry has sprung up to support it: The Debt Consolidation Industry and Covert Sting Operation. Every day, I get at least one piece of regular mail offering me low-interest balance-transfer deals for credit-card debt, or arm-twisting e-mail from unknown credit organizations that scream things like:
"DEBT RELIEF IS JUST A CLICK AWAY!"
"CUT YOUR MINIMUM MONTHLY PAYMENTS BY 50% OR MORE!"
"SLASH YOUR INTEREST RATES DOWN TO ZERO!"
These promises are incredibly alluring to anyone who is caught in the quicksand of having too much consumer debt, and who will believe anything, do anything -- click her ruby slippers (bought on sale for just $400!) three times -- to make it go away. But before you start skipping down some financial yellow brick road to see the Wizard of Debt Consolidation, remember this: Watch out for those flying monkeys.
To read more click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment