Should I use a personal loan for debt consolidation?
Weighing a personal loan against continuing regular payments means balancing the temporary credit score hit and a higher monthly payment against saving money overall on high-interest debt. People struggle to decide if the interest saved on balances like credit cards and vehicle loans is worth increasing their immediate monthly out-of-pocket costs.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
Should I use a personal loan for debt consolidation?
- 1Throwing every spare penny from paychecks into paying debt downDid this help you?
- 2Selling vehicles to use proceeds toward debt payoffDid this help you?
- 3Continuing to pay down existing loans directly without taking on new debtDid this help you?
- 4Refinancing debt to a lower rateDid this help you?
- 5Cutting back on interest by reducing the rate and forcing a timelineDid this help you?
- 6Making a spreadsheet to track principal reductionDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I have 2 loans. One student one personal. I have $4332.62 at 15.24% interest and $6725.68 at 12.82% should I do debt consolidation?”source ↗
“however it is only 24 months so my payments would be an extra about $210 what I’m paying now with the both above combined.”source ↗
“I just wanted to see from an outside perspective if it was worth the credit hit to save some money overall in interest, or just keep putting my nose down and paying how i have”source ↗
“Would it be smarter to take a personal loan to wipe the bike and the amex at 7k clean, and then when i sell the bike just put it towards the personal loan?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 13Is refinancing a car loan worth it for a longer term?
- 80Should I pay off debt or start investing and saving?
- 10Should I use my savings to pay off student loans?
- 10Is it better to pay off credit card debt or keep cash in savings?
- 3Should I take car dealer financing for a rebate and pay it off early?
- 3Should I take a pay cut for a new career?