Should I get a debt consolidation loan?
Hey all! I’m trying to decide if I should take out a new loan in order to hel; consolidate my debt a little. For context, I took out a $30,000 loan in December 2024 that has a 12% APR, $800 a month payment, and a term of 48 months. It still has a little over 20,000 left and I’m trying to decide if it would be better to start a new loan that has a slightly lower payment in order to fully pay off this one and some of my credit card debt. The loan that I’m kind of looking at is $28,000 w/ 20.99% APR, $697 payment, and 60 month term. With the $28,000, I would be able to fully pay off the initial loan as well as one of my credit cards (which has a monthly payment of about $200). Obviously, the caveat is the higher APR and a longer term. But with the money I’d be saving from the credit card payment and the hundred dollar difference in loan payments, I would be able to pay above minimum payment on this new loan basically every month. So is this a good move or not? I’m (obviously) not great with money, so I’m trying to rectify the mistakes I’ve made in the past. But, obviously, I don’t want to dig myself any deeper. So any advice would be greatly appreciated! TIA!
P.S. I know I’m not in a great financial situation currently, so please, if you can, don’t make me feel worse than I already do about it 😅