The UK mortgage and housing market is weakening, with inflation well into the 3% barrier and the mortgage industry still battered and bruised from severe funding issues, there are literally millions of UK home owners that are finding massive increases in their monthly outgoings will little sign of it slowing up.
Whether it is mortgage payments, unsecured debts, essentials such as food and fuel or luxury items, we are all feeling the pinch of the current economical climate in the UK.
Of these millions of UK home owners there are thousands and thousands that are under increasing pressure to reduce their monthly outgoings as much as possible to avoid missing payments or falling into arrears.
As a result many are turning to debt consolidation loans in an attempt to consolidate existing unsecured debts and turn them into one manageable loan over a longer period to reduce their overall outgoings and ride out the storm for the time being.
In the UK the average personal unsecured household debt is well over £20k and for some, a debt consolidation loan could be the only way out to bring their monthly outgoings under control.
Recent figures from the last two quarters of 2008, have demonstrated that many people are increasing their overall debt by using credit cards to fund their deficit of day to day living expenses.
By utilizing a debt consolidation loan over the short term whilst the market is in this slump could be worth considering, as your can potentially reduce the amount of interest you pay, especially if you are only making the minimum payments on any credit card debt you may have.
But by spreading the payments out over a longer period for the moment, you can significantly reduce your outgoings.
There is little stopping you, once the market has returned to a stable state at paying more off each month if you can afford to clear of the loan earlier, thus saving more interest over the longer term.