The process of debt consolidation involves combining two or more existing loans in a single loan and paying off for it. The debt consolidation process might or might not require staking collateral. Collateral can be anything from a piece of property to any asset of considerable worth. The higher the value of collateral, the lower the rate of interest you can expect on your debt consolidation loan. Unsecured loans are those that do not require collateral whereas secured loans are sealed by staked collateral. Home equity loan or a second mortgage loan on a fixed asset is also known as secured debt consolidation.

The term "home equity" refers to the worth of a home. By taking a home equity loan, you take a loan against your house. A home equity loan is usually taken to get a higher amount of credit and more favorable interest rates. The secured debt consolidation is rather easily available in the economy today. However, as a consumer, you must give it a serious thought and think both in terms of pros and cons before taking it up. The biggest drawback with a secured debt consolidation program is that your house is put at risk. If you miss out on a payment then you run a high risk of your house getting forfeited. By nature, a secured debt consolidation program is long term. The advantages of a secured debt consolidation program is that your immediate cash outflow falls drastically, and therefore you experience a reduced stress and tension that was caused by the multiple payments and varying rates of interest.

As a borrower you must realize that secured debt consolidation is the finest solution to resolve debt crisis provided you accompany the consolidation process with an improved financial planning and disciplined borrowing. Financial experts advice you to go in for debt consolidation if the amount involved in the debts being consolidated is high. You must keep in mind that unsecured consolidation loans have a high rate of interest and ultimately prove to be of little use to the borrower. To consolidate your debts, you should get in touch with a debt consolidation or negotiation company. A debt consolidation company is an organization that negotiates with your creditors to get you a low rate of interest and better terms of partnership in general. Debt negotiation is also known as debt settlement. Debt settlement is meant for people who are financially not in a position to pay their monthly debts and have not made any payments out in the last three months.

Debt settlement process works by taking monthly fixed amount from you and stores it in an account maintained by either you or them. In this while, the debt settlement company negotiates with your creditors to make them agree to lower the pay-off rate. The lower pay-off rate can go down to 40 to 50 percent of the original debt amount. After that is covered, the debt negotiation company will actually pay your creditors on your behalf.