I am trying to consolidate some debt. A furniture bill that has about $1000 left on it, a couple of CC that I want to pay off and close. All toll it comes to about $4500. Payments on those equal about $500 per month. The bad thing is the furniture was total about $3000 but I am ending up paying close to $5000 on it. Crazy APR apparently, but I was able to get it "credit" wise when noone else would. If I can get this loan at any rate I could lower payment to around $200 or so a month it would be great. I tried via my CU and was declined. Scores are not good enough for Lending Club or Prosper. Is it worth taking a HP on EX (Verified via a rep over the phone that they pull EX) to get a loan from this company? I know they are not a great lender, most probably consider them a "shark" operation, but are there any other options out there?
Again the rep I spoke with (local), said they pull EX, and that it would be a hard pull. Looking for advice and maybe some info from those who have experience with Springleaf or maybe some other options if anyone has any 
. My EX score is probably 600 or so, if it makes any difference I got an update from Credit.com that my score went up 33 points to 624, I know this is a FAKO but maybe it can give you guys and gals a general idea.
Thanks for any advice and help
Check the APR on the Spingleaf loan before doing anything and compare it with what you have now: they are a subprime lender and you may not be saving interest with them. That's really the only thing that matters end of the day, lender annoyances and what not can be dealt with.
There's a bunch of other options out there too (I used Cashcall for a semi-similar purpose back when my scores were sub 600) and it's worth checking out the various products before signing anything to get the best one that would work for you.
The typical problem with these loans is their term and their APR: if you're putting $500 towards the loans now, keep putting that (or more) to the new consolidation loan; and get it paid off earlier; also for *real* style points if you're trying to do this well, get a loan for *more* than what you need if you can do it, which usually results in a lower APR in my experience in subprime lending, and then as soon as it funds, pay any money you don't need to consolidate your bills right back to the lender immediately and accelerate your amortization curve substantially. Absolutely do *not* go out and spend that excess money, but it is a smart method of doing things even if it's incredibly counter-intuitive. Do some napkin math with one of the bankrate calculators and see.
Oh with any subprime loan, see if there is a prepayment penalty: some have it, some don't - you don't want one that does, make certain on that fact too.
@Jarnog wrote:From what I gathered, there is no pre-payment penalty. The APR will be at most 36%. I can get a 36 month term and my payment would be around 240 a month, if I wanted the entire 5000 loan.
SO what you are saying is, if I can, get a loan for say 7500 or whatever...when I get the funds, take the 5k pay off the bills I needed the loan for in the first place, then take the remainder and pay it on the loan.
I just didn't know if it was completely worth it. I want to do it, I would be set in a payment that I know will be done in XX amount of time. The initial benefit would be removing (so to speak) payments I have now. I just didn't know if doing this or something like this would "look" bad on my reports and be considered "bad" in the future (for mortgage, better cards etc)
Go and do it. That's a huge win financially and actually will probably look good to underwriters in the future: they like smart financial people, and this is a smart decision no question. I was expecting a much higher APR as they've sent me tons of pre-approvals over the past few years even when I was deep subprime. 36% is about a third of what I was afraid of .
Re: what I was saying - that's exactly right: send anything in excess of $5K right back to them with your compliments.
Doing some quick Bankrate stuff: 36 months at 36% on 5K is $229/month (not including whatever their finance charge is) paid off in April 2017 if it were made today, and you pay something like $3245 in interest.
36 months at 36% on $7500 is $344/month, but if you make the initial baloon payment of $2500, instead of April 2017 it's paid off in Dec 2015. and your total interest paid is only $1802, or a savings of $1400 or thereabouts over the course of the loan.
Since you are paying more than the $344/month now, take the highest loan if you can qualify for (and is less than your current monthly on the assumption you can continue to afford it), and do exactly this... on the assumption it's the same APR in all cases: it might even be lower in some but find out on their loan products explicitly. For comparison purposes a 10K loan at the same terms is paid off in June 2015 at a payment of 458/month and $1370 in total interest. Diminishing returns, but I hope this illustrates the advantages.
ETA: I really like the idea, taking the 10K loan example, and assuming you don't re-rack up the debt, you're free and clear in just over a year. Seriously, just do it: cannot state enough how big of a win I think this is.
Yea I already tried with NFCU. I have a relationship with them. They declined me 
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I just refinanced my car with them 2 weeks ago. LOL. I could try other CU's in my area but wouldn't be able to commit to them fully as I am trying to build a stronger relationship with NFCU. I like the suggestion though, and did actually think about it, but would hate to get in with someone and not really be committed to them, if that makes sense.
@Jarnog wrote:Yea I already tried with NFCU. I have a relationship with them. They declined me
I just refinanced my car with them 2 weeks ago. LOL. I could try other CU's in my area but wouldn't be able to commit to them fully as I am trying to build a stronger relationship with NFCU. I like the suggestion though, and did actually think about it, but would hate to get in with someone and not really be committed to them, if that makes sense.
Well, if you're trying to build a relationship with NFCU, and they denied you, and some other CU is able to help you, then maybe that other CU is more valuable in the long run.
