You may use a debt consolidation loan to merge or combine your debts into a single payment or repayment. To gain the optimal benefit from a debt consolidation loan however, you will need to look for some low interest debt consolidation loan options, that may fit your specific situation and needs.

A low interest debt consolidation loan will make more of your funds available to you, it may also make your repayments much more affordable too. A low interest debt consolidation loan may also help you to pre-pay on your loan principal, reducing your debt at a much faster rate.

You may get a debt consolidation loan by either applying for a secured or unsecured loan. With a secured loan you can use an asset like your home as collateral/security for a loan, or you may choose to get an unsecured loan without collaterals. A secured loan may be easier to get than an unsecured loan, and the interest rate for secured loans may be lower too. The downside of a secured loan though is, you may lose your collateral, if you fail to pay back the loan, or are late on your repayments.

If you are a homeowner, you may use your home to get either a home equity loan (HEL), home equity line of credit (HELOC) or cash-out refinancing. HEL and HELOC involve using your home equity (that is, the percentage of your home that you own) to get a line of credit, HEL is a lump sum while HELOC is an open credit you may draw on at varying times. Cash-out refinancing involves taking a new mortgage that is bigger than your original mortgage, on your home, and then using the difference between your new and old mortgage value, to pay off your debts. To use cash-out refinancing, your home value will need to have increased from its original purchase price, to provide you with a large enough difference to pay off your debts.

You may also choose to take a personal loan if you don?t have collaterals, or if you do not wish to use your home as security for a loan. You will need to review each type of loan and do some comparison too to get a low interest debt consolidation loan for yourself. You will need to add up the total costs of getting each type of loan, not just their interest rates, to know how much you will be paying or saving in the long run. You may shop around and compare different loan rates and costs, to get the best deal.

Though it is very important to research your options while shopping for low interest debt consolidation loan services, before you take up any loan offer however, or use any type of debt solution, you may want to go through some free credit counseling first. A free counseling session (not a program or plan, just some free expert advice service) can help you to determine the best solution for your needs, which may not necessarily even involve, getting a debt consolidation loan, most especially if you are struggling with debts. Reputable and certified credit counselors can help you to determine and know if a debt consolidation loan, or some other type of debt resolving strategy and mix, are the best solution for your debts. With this, once you understand what your best solutions are, after some counseling, you may then do some additional research on the options presented to you by your counselors. You may get some free and no obligation credit counseling from government bureaus and agencies, and/or reputable credit counseling firms.