*Loan,banking and credit>>>debt loan

Anyone ever get a debt consolidation loan through CitiFinancial?

I would like to consolidate all my credit cards and car loan into one monthly bill so that everything is paid off and I have just one bill. I went to their website and it says that I could consolidate everything and get $7000 extra for less a month than what I pay now. Would this hurt my credit if I keep the credit cards open but dont use them and then I have another loan on top of all these? I am looking for a loan so that I can pay for a big expense I am going to have in a few months so I figured I should just consolidate all my bills with this loan as well. Also...would I need collateral for this type of loan that is equal to the cost of the loan?

In our area Citi Financial charges upward of 25% for debt consolidations. Higher than your higest credit card rate.
I would suggest you try a local bank first because at 25% you'll have a hard time paying the debt down in reasonable time.

If you buried yourself with the credit cards once, odds are that you'll do it again. Get rid of all of them or keep one and never charge what you can't pay off when the bill comes in.

Citi Financial will take whatever they can for collateral but they have no problem with a portion being unsecured. That's why the rate is so high.

Good Luck

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Do you own a home? You might just want to refinance the property and pay off your car loan and credit cards. Citifinancial is a good company but then again they are a sub prime or non-conforming lender with their retail lending division. The nice thing about Citi is that you can pay your mortgage payment in their retail offices instead of mailing it in. It will not be late.

Your credit will determine the interest rate you will get on refinancing a property. Keeping open credit cards for a long time will hurt your score if you are not using them. What you should get rid of is department and retail store credit cards. Just keep 2 credit cards open for an emergency such as VISA and Master card.
I am in the mortgage industry for over 5 years. I counsel many of my clients in debt consolidation and credit issues. My web site Free Mortgage Helper.com has many articles that can answer almost all your questions.
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