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Key Benefits of Debt Consolidation

Lower monthly payments. When you consolidate your debts, you may be able to obtain a lower overall interest rate than the combined rates on all your debts. You could also extend your repayment term to reduce your monthly payments. Remember, even if you extend your term, you can still pay more than the minimum monthly payment at any time.
Save on credit card interest. Consolidating your outstanding credit card balances into a loan with a lower interest rate could reduce your interest costs substantially depending on the rates charged by your credit cards.
Leverage the equity in your home to save even more. Using your home as collateral for a loan, you may be able to negotiate a lower interest rate for all your combined debts, and extend your repayment term on your debts over a longer period of time, making your payments smaller.
One monthly payment. Consolidating your debt can simplify your finances by giving you just one monthly payment to make.
Have your debt in one place. Centralizing your debt at one financial institution can save you time. RBC offers a range of products and 24/7 access to your accounts through online, mobile and telephone banking.

Candidates for Bad Credit Mortgages

The below items are the general guidelines that can be used as a rough rule of thumb when determining whether a consumer may be a candidate for a bad credit loan:

A credit score below 620
Two or more delinquencies of 30 days on a mortgage in the past 12 months
One delinquency of 60 days on a mortgage in the past 12 months
A charge-off or foreclosure within the past 24 months
Bankruptcy within the past 24 months
Debt to income ratio is over 50%
Inability to cover family living expenses in the course of a month

However, it is overall creditworthiness that is not just determined by credit scores. A couple of missing credit card payments does not mean that a consumer is doomed to receive double-digit interest rates. The only way to know where one stands is to apply for the loan and speak to a professional specializing in mortgage loans

Setup Payment Reminders

Making your credit payments on time is one of the biggest contributing factors to your credit score. Some banks offer payment reminders through their online banking portals that can send you an email or text message reminding you when a payment is due. You could also consider enrolling in automatic payments through your credit card and loan providers to have payments automatically debited from your bank account, but this only makes the minimum payment on your credit cards and does not help instill a sense of money management.

Important tips to increase your Credit score

Here are some important tips to increase your credit score:

At least once a year, review your credit reports from each of the three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) for inaccuracies and file a dispute immediately if you find an error. You are entitled to obtain a free credit report once a year from each of the three bureaus. To obtain a free copy of your credit report, go to annualcreditreport.com External Link or call 877-FACT-ACT (877-322- 8228). It is important to note that your credit report does not contain your credit score. When you obtain your free credit report from each of the bureaus, you will be offered the option to purchase your credit score. However, you are not obligated to purchase your credit score in order to receive your free credit report.
Pay your bills on time. Late payments can hurt your score significantly. If you have missed payments, get current and stay current. The more you pay your bills on time, the better your score.
Keep credit card balances low relative to credit limits (30 percent or lower is recommended). "Maxing out" your credit cards means you have a very high utilization rate, which significantly lowers your credit score.
Pay off debt rather than moving it around.
Open new credit accounts only as needed; new accounts decrease the average age of your total accounts. Having accounts that have been opened a long time increases your credit score.
Avoid closing credit card accounts because this also decreases the average age of your accounts.
Apply for installment loans (mortgages, car loans, etc.) within a 30-day period because most credit scoring models will count multiple inquiries within a short period of time as only one inquiry.

Porting changes for Mortgage

Although increasing numbers of homeowners are requiring flexibility in porting a mortgage, as a sluggish housing market means sellers waiting to complete are sometimes having to move into a short-term rental property rather than risk losing their buyers, lenders are moving in the opposite direction.

Nationwide building society has made it harder for people moving house to port a mortgage from one property to another one. Borrowers who could previously redeem their old mortgage and take the same deal out with the building society on a new property six months later now have just a three-month window. They can also only take up that same deal again if they have told Nationwide of their intentions before redeeming the old loan – something that wasn't required previously.

Woolwich has also tightened its porting criteria. David Hollingworth of brokers London & Country said: "Now you have a 30-day window to redeem your mortgage on your old property and start it up again on your new one. Otherwise, Woolwich will only reimburse you any early redemption charges if you take out a different loan with it within six months."

Karijini National Park

Karijini National Park, Western Australia

Photograph by Ignacio Palacios

Fairy Pool, Scotland