Being unemployed and being in debt are two unfortunate situations to be in – and having to face both these situations at the same time can be enough cause for trouble. Imagine how harried an individual would be if there are the credit card, electricity, medical and utility bills lying around and one also has to keep in mind the student loan and education loan installments also to pay off. It is a great idea at such points to consolidate all the debts under one debt and keep the number of lenders to deal with to a single minimum.

Debt consolidation loans offer exactly the same. Debt consolidation loan for the Unemployed take care of much of the worries of the individual and helps let the borrower concentrate upon remedying the situations rather than worrying about the monthly installments of the loans and the bills. Since this is consolidated, the total amount that one has to shell out is also less than what one would have been paying otherwise. Consolidation loans are available in amounts up to £75,000 with repayment periods varying between 3 to 20 years.

For the unemployed, the debt consolidation loans come in two flavors – secured and unsecured. The secured loans require a collateral to secure the loan against and the unsecured do not. So, if one has a collateral that has a good equity, one should go with the option of the secured loans – these can be obtained for a higher value and normally have interest rates lower than the unsecured loans. Anything varying from a home to a car can be used as the collateral. Equity here is the amount that can be obtained if the property is liquidated. When going for a consolidation loan, loans can be obtained up to the value of 125% of the equity.

Let us look at the theory of these consolidation loans in a slightly greater detail. Let us say an unemployed student has a student loan to be repaid in 10 years, an education loan in 5 years and some credit card bills which need to be paid against every month. All these artifacts can be exchanged for a consolidated loan for a single period of time and a single consolidated repayment requires to be made to the lender. All individual loans are taken care of by the consolidated loan lender. The total amount to be paid is less than the amount the borrower was paying before.

This gives a peace of mind to the borrower to concentrate his energy at other important tasks and pay off a single lesser valued installment each month. It can also be arranged the student or the unemployed starts paying off the loan after having attained employment. Financial planning and the understanding of the current economic status is very important before going for consolidation options.

It is also important that the borrower understands that the loan does not vanish after consolidation, it is just unified. So, the habits which got to the situation of the heavy debt needs to be remedied first. One should understand that once one has a loan consolidation, the household should be run by the installments of the loan received and the credit cards should not be used. Opening multiple exit points for money defeats the very basic purpose of taking a consolidation and may get the individual into financial peril.

Also, one should analyze the options before deciding and go for a lesser amount rather than going for a lesser repayment spread over a longer period. A lesser amount spread over a longer period may turn out to be much more costly.

Another benefit of having a consolidated loan is that if the repayments are made on time, it has a great impact on the credit history of the lender. If you have multiple loans, defaulting on one will worsen your credit records but being consolidated and regular will do wonders to your credit history.

It is thus worthwhile to consider consolidating the loan, especially if the individual is a student or is unemployed. It helps provide the individual with the much needed peace of mind by having to deal with a single lender and having to pay off a single monthly installment. It also reduces the cumulative amount to be paid. If one is regular with the repayments, the credit history also gets better. The note of caution here is to be aware of the financial status and avoid getting into greater debts – rather consolidate the loans, work towards getting a better job and getting out of all debts in one go.