Well, my mother decided to consolidate my grandmas bills with citibank. Its a loan based on the value of the house, so they will appraise the house which according to the county appraisers (I think) is worth 52,000. Not sure exactly. Anyways, my question to you guys is what should I watch out for so citibank doesn't screw her over. Any advice would be appreciated. If not enough information is supplied, feel free to ask. Thanks Tim
Citibank is at least a major lender, so that eliminates some of the shady stuff that one can encounter in these deals. Just read all the fine print (late penalties, possible interest jumps, all the fees). Make sure your mom understands what needs to be done and the consequences of not doing it (like losing the house).
So you are going to take unsecured debt and and now basically put her house up as collateral? That is not a good move.
It all depends on the situation. If everything is on the up and up, and she understands all the fine print, and she is fully capable and will make every payment, then it could be a good deal. So yes, it could be bad, but there are circumstances where it is good, especially since secured loans generally have much better rates and sometimes people really do NEED them; but yes, you have to be very very careful.
I would think so, but while I was still in college my friend told me there was a Citi job recruitment presentation. So I figure why not and go with him and sit through 30 minutes of constant talk about how much money we were going to make without barely any detail of what the damn job was. I walk out in the middle of it and Google it back home and see 'scam' associated with most links...Too bad I can't remember the exact name of the recruiting session. Now I can't say it was directly under the Citi umbrella, but they were definitely associated with them. They had huge Citi banners all over the place, not to mention some of the forms we looked at and filled out. And the basic job description happened to be debt consolidation. Let's just say I'm wary of everyone these days. There's plenty of stories of legit mortgage lenders engaging in less ethical strong arming for example.
www.daveramsey.com If I were your mom I'd wouldn't do it. Credit card debit is not worth your grandma losing her house.
That sounds like Primerica. They have an army of multi-level marketing zombies that should be avoided ad all costs.
Agreed. (Love the Dave Ramsey Show, btw) I don't see the logic in going into debt to help consolidate your debt. I look at it like this: What's the worse thing that can happen if she doesn't pay her debt? It hurts her credit? Depending on her age, is this really a big deal? Does she really need a good credit rating at this point in her life? On the other hand, what's the worst thing that can happen if (for some reason) she can't pay her debt consolidation loan? Well, they take away HER HOUSE. If you compare the 2 worst case scenarios, it really doesn't make much sense to take this loan. Just my flea bitten opinion.
