Personal Loans

**MirandaK** · 01-08-2008, 03:08 PM

Has anyone gotten a personal bank loan to pay off their credit card debt?

I have 23k in debt and my credit score is 702 (thank god!). I have various interest rates on the 23 k but I think i'm looking at around 11% for a loan.

Good idea?

I like the idea of 1 set payment every month instead of 4.

The only loan I've ever had was on my car (paid off) so I don't know much about this subject.

thanks in advance for any advice!

**McD** · 01-08-2008, 03:16 PM

If you can get a lower rate that would be very helpful. But on the other hand, a lot of banks aren't willing to do an unsecured loan in the amount of 23K. Do you have anything that could be used as collateral? The important thing to remember is that if you do get a consolidation loan is not to acquire any more debt!

**sdrjeolsen** · 01-08-2008, 03:21 PM

I'm not a borrower or lender, but I've heard tons of great stuff about www.prosper.com. Its a peer to peer lending program, where people bid on loans, lilke e-bay for money. If you have good credit, you can probably get a decent rate. Maybe something to check into. Good luck!

**MirandaK** · 01-08-2008, 03:33 PM

I checked and I can get the unsecured loan for 23k with an 11.6% rate.

I'll check into that website, too! Thanks

**Momto2Boyz** · 01-08-2008, 04:06 PM

I was a loan officer for years, and I saw tons of people get consolidation loans to pay off their credit cards...then magically, the balances on their credit cards began to rise again!

I would only think about doing this if you DO NOT currently use those cards. Using credit cards is a hard habit to break! If you are using the cards, cut them up, make sure you can live without them for 6 months...then go get the consolidation loan!

**MirandaK** · 01-08-2008, 04:23 PM

Haven't used them in over 9 months...not a problem.

**McD** · 01-08-2008, 04:29 PM

Then I say go for it! If you can get where you are paying less in interest, more money will be applied to principal, helping you get out of debt sooner!

We had another user have great success with it---I think ti was Shorty?

**chatterweb** · 01-08-2008, 05:44 PM

Look online for some 0% CARD OFFERS, you have a decent score.

2 years ago we had over $13000 in consumer debt.

We just kept using 0% offers and snowballed it down.

**faw42077** · 01-08-2008, 08:58 PM

I agree that if your interest rate is lower and someone is willing to give you the loan, then it may be something to consider

**lgw** · 01-11-2008, 11:22 AM

Can you play the credit card game of moving the debt to a zero percent credit card, paying it down and then moving it to another zero percent card when the first card's rate expires? I did that when we had a few thousand on one credit card and paid off everything without incurring interest.

**MirandaK** · 01-11-2008, 11:32 AM

I could with a few thousand but moving around 23,000 bucks is tough. About 8,000 of it is currently at 0 percent but it is due to go up soon.

**Iwant2BDebtfree** · 02-04-2008, 04:35 AM

just checking to see what you ended up doing with this. I think if the interest rate evens out at a decent place and you don't end up with a larger monthly payment then it may be a good idea. I didn't have as much debt, but my fiance wanted to do that--it just wasn't a good option for us and I slowly plugged away and wiped them all out.
Good Luck!

**MirandaK** · 02-04-2008, 09:42 AM

Didn't end up doing it...yet. I still might but my BF wants to wait until the summer because we are gonna relist our house in a few months and if it sells I'll be debt free without the hassle of the loan.