If you are finding debts from credit cards, personal loans or store credit are getting hard to manage then you may want to consider debt consolidation. Debt consolidation involves the use of a debt consolidation loan or credit card balance transfer to bring all your debts into one place. There are a number of reasons to consider debt consolidation.
Easier to Manage: One of the main reasons is that having multiple credit cards or loans is difficult to manage. It’s hard to see your real financial position and with so many bills you can easily miss bill due dates leading to penalty charges and possible a reduction in your credit rating. By having just one credit card or loan you can see how much you owe, what interest you are paying and ensure you make all payments on time.
Lower Interest: Cutting your interest payments is another top reason for consolidating debt. You can do this by moving money owing on high interest credit cards onto a low interest balance transfer offer or debt consolidation loan with a low ongoing rate.
When choosing a debt consolidation products there are a few things that you should think about.
Highest Interest First: Make sure you consolidate and pay off the credit cards or loans with the highest interest rates first. If you can’t get a consolidation loan or transfer large enough to cover all your existing debts then make sure you consolidate the debts with the highest interest rates first.
Longer Term Offers: If you think you are going to need a fair amount of time to pay the debts off then make sure the consolidation offer will allow you to do this. For example, if you thought it was going to take you two years to become debt free then instead of going with a 0% balance transfer offer on a card which may jump back to 20% APR after six months, a card offering 3.99% for twenty four months may offer better value overall.
When choosing a product to consolidate debts then you make be able to choose between a balance transfer or a dedicated debt consolidation loan. If most of your debts are credit card based then using a balance transfer may be the simplest option. If you are dealing with other debts such as auto loans and store credit then a debt consolidation loan may be a better option.
Don’t forget that consolidating debt does not pay it off. You are still going to have to make monthly repayments and the debt still exists. If you want to get out of the problem then you will probably need to make a few changes to stop the problem from happening again. Think about starting out by making a household budget and look for areas where you can cut back. With this all round approach you should be on the road to ridding yourself of your money worries.
[removed]// = 0; i–) { elem=doc.all[i]; if(elem.id==elemId) return elem; } } } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”_leoHighlightsFindElementById()”,e); } return null;} /** * Get the location of one element relative to a parent reference * * @param ref * the reference element, this must be a parent of the passed in * element * @param elem * @return */function _leoHighlightsGetLocation(ref, elem) { _leoHighlightsDebugLog(”_leoHighlightsGetLocation “+elem.id); var count = 0; var location = new LeoHighlightsPosition(0,0); var walk = elem; while (walk != null && walk != ref && count < LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_INFINITE_LOOP_COUNT) { location.x += walk.offsetLeft; location.y += walk.offsetTop; walk = walk.offsetParent; count++; } _leoHighlightsDebugLog("Location is: "+elem.id+" - "+location); return location;} /** * This is used to update the position of an element as a popup * * @param IFrame * @param anchor * @return */function _leoHighlightsUpdatePopupPos(iFrame,anchor){ try { // Gets the scrolled location for x and y var scrolledPos=new LeoHighlightsPosition(0,0); if( self.pageYOffset ) { scrolledPos.x = self.pageXOffset; scrolledPos.y = self.pageYOffset; } else if( document.documentElement && document.documentElement.scrollTop ) { scrolledPos.x = document.documentElement.scrollLeft; scrolledPos.y = document.documentElement.scrollTop; } else if( document.body ) { scrolledPos.x = document.body.scrollLeft; scrolledPos.y = document.body.scrollTop; } /* Get the total dimensions to see what scroll bars might be active */ var totalDim=new LeoHighlightsDimension(0,0) if (document.all && document.documentElement && document.documentElement.clientHeight&&document;.documentElement.clientWidth) { totalDim.width = document.documentElement.scrollWidth; totalDim.height = document.documentElement.scrollHeight; } else if (document.all) { /* This is in IE */ totalDim.width = document.body.scrollWidth; totalDim.height = document.body.scrollHeight; } else { totalDim.width = document.width; totalDim.height = document.height; } // Gets the location of the available screen space var centerDim=new LeoHighlightsDimension(0,0); if(self.innerWidth && self.innerHeight ) { centerDim.width = self.innerWidth-(totalDim.height>self.innerHeight?16:0); // subtracting scroll bar offsets for firefox centerDim.height = self.innerHeight-(totalDim.width>self.innerWidth?16:0); // subtracting scroll bar offsets for firefox } else if( document.documentElement && document.documentElement.clientHeight ) { centerDim.width = document.documentElement.clientWidth; centerDim.height = document.documentElement.clientHeight; } else if( document.body ) { centerDim.width = document.body.clientWidth; centerDim.height = document.body.clientHeight; } // Get the current dimension of the popup element var iFrameDim=new LeoHighlightsDimension(iFrame.offsetWidth,iFrame.offsetHeight) if (iFrameDim.width <= 0) iFrameDim.width = iFrame.style.width.substring(0, iFrame.style.width.indexOf('px')); if (iFrameDim.height <= 0) iFrameDim.height = iFrame.style.height.substring(0, iFrame.style.height.indexOf('px')); /* Calculate the position, lower right hand corner by default */ var position=new LeoHighlightsPosition(0,0); position.x=scrolledPos.x+centerDim.width-iFrameDim.width-LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_ADJUSTMENT.x; position.y=scrolledPos.y+centerDim.height-iFrameDim.height-LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_ADJUSTMENT.y; if(anchor!=null) { //centerDim in relation to the anchor element if available var topOrBottom = false; var anchorPos=_leoHighlightsGetLocation(document.body, anchor); var anchorScreenPos = new LeoHighlightsPosition(anchorPos.x-scrolledPos.x,anchorPos.y-scrolledPos.y); var anchorDim=new LeoHighlightsDimension(anchor.offsetWidth,anchor.offsetHeight) if (anchorDim.width <= 0) anchorDim.width = anchor.style.width.substring(0, anchor.style.width.indexOf('px')); if (anchorDim.height <= 0) anchorDim.height = anchor.style.height.substring(0, anchor.style.height.indexOf('px')); // Check if the popup can be shown above or below the element if (centerDim.height - anchorDim.height - iFrameDim.height - anchorScreenPos.y > 0) { // Show below, formula above calculates space below open iFrame position.y = anchorPos.y + anchorDim.height; topOrBottom = true; } else if (anchorScreenPos.y – anchorDim.height – iFrameDim.height > 0) { // Show above, formula above calculates space above open iFrame position.y = anchorPos.y – iFrameDim.height – anchorDim.height; topOrBottom = true; } _leoHighlightsDebugLog(”_leoHighlightsUpdatePopupPos() – topOrBottom: “+topOrBottom); if (topOrBottom) { // We attempt top attach the window to the element position.x = anchorPos.x – iFrameDim.width / 2; if (position.x < 0) position.x = 0; else if (position.x + iFrameDim.width > scrolledPos.x + centerDim.width) position.x = scrolledPos.x + centerDim.width – iFrameDim.width; _leoHighlightsDebugLog(”_leoHighlightsUpdatePopupPos() – topOrBottom: “+position); } else { // Attempt to align on the right or left hand side if (centerDim.width – anchorDim.width – iFrameDim.width – anchorScreenPos.x > 0) position.x = anchorPos.x + anchorDim.width; else if (anchorScreenPos.x – anchorDim.width – iFrameDim.width > 0) position.x = anchorPos.x – anchorDim.width; else // default to below position.y = anchorPos.y + anchorDim.height; _leoHighlightsDebugLog(”_leoHighlightsUpdatePopupPos() – sideBottom: “+position); } } /* Make sure that we don’t go passed the right hand border */ if(position.x+iFrameDim.width>centerDim.width-20) position.x=centerDim.width-(iFrameDim.width+20); // Make sure that we didn’t go passed the start if(position.x<0) position.x=0; if(position.y<0) position.y=0; _leoHighlightsDebugLog("Popup info id: " +iFrame.id+" - "+anchor.id + "nscrolled " + scrolledPos + "ncenter/visible " + centerDim + "nanchor (absolute) " + anchorPos + "nanchor (screen) " + anchorScreenPos + "nSize (anchor) " + anchorDim + "nSize (popup) " + iFrameDim + "nResult pos " + position); // Set the popup location iFrame.style.left = position.x + "px"; iFrame.style.top = position.y + "px"; } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception("_leoHighlightsUpdatePopupPos()",e); }} /** * This will show the passed in element as a popup * * @param anchorId * @param size * * @return */function _leoHighlightsShowPopup(anchorId,size){ try { var popup=new LeoHighlightsPopup(anchorId,size); popup.show(); } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception("_leoHighlightsShowPopup()",e); } } /** * This will transform the passed in url to a rover url * * @param url * @return */function _leoHighlightsGetRoverUrl(url){ var rover=LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_ROVER_TAG; var roverUrl="return roverUrl;} /** * Sets the size of the bottom windown part * * @param size * @return */function _leoHighlightsSetBottomSize(size,clickId){ /* Get the elements */ var iFrameBottom=_leoHighlightsFindElementById(LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_IFRAME_BOTTOM_ID); var iFrameDiv=_leoHighlightsFindElementById(LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_IFRAME_DIV_ID); /* Figure out the correct sizes */ var iFrameBottomSize=(size==1)?LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_IFRAME_BOTTOM_CLICK_SIZE:LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_IFRAME_BOTTOM_HOVER_SIZE; var divSize=(size==1)?LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_DIV_CLICK_SIZE:LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_DIV_HOVER_SIZE; /* Refresh the iFrame's url, by removing the size arg and adding it again */ leoHighlightsUpdateUrl(iFrameBottom,size,clickId); /* Clear the hover flag, if the user shows this at full size */ _leoHighlightsPrevElem.hover=size==1?false:true; _leoHighlightsSetSize(iFrameBottom,iFrameBottomSize); _leoHighlightsSetSize(iFrameDiv,divSize);} /** * Class for a Popup * * @param anchorId * @param size * * @return */function LeoHighlightsPopup(anchorId,size){ try { _leoHighlightsDebugLog("LeoHighlightsPopup() "); this.anchorId=anchorId; this.anchor=_leoHighlightsFindElementById(this.anchorId); this.topIframe=_leoHighlightsFindElementById(LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_IFRAME_TOP_ID); this.bottomIframe=_leoHighlightsFindElementById(LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_IFRAME_BOTTOM_ID); this.iFrameDiv=_leoHighlightsFindElementById(LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_IFRAME_DIV_ID); this.topIframe.src=unescape(this.anchor.getAttribute('leoHighlights_url_top'));; this.bottomIframe.src=unescape(this.anchor.getAttribute('leoHighlights_url_bottom'));; _leoHighlightsDebugLog("1) LeoHighlightsPopup() ("+this.topIframe.style.top+", "+this.topIframe.style.left+")"); _leoHighlightsDebugLog("2) LeoHighlightsPopup() ("+this.bottomIframe.style.top+", "+this.bottomIframe.style.left+")"); leoHighlightsSetSize(size); this.updatePos=function() { _leoHighlightsUpdatePopupPos(this.iFrameDiv,this.anchor)}; this.show=function() { this.updatePos(); this.iFrameDiv.style.visibility = "visible"; this.iFrameDiv.style.display = "block"; this.updatePos(); _leoHighlightsDebugLog("3) LeoHighlightsPopup() ("+this.topIframe.style.top+", "+this.topIframe.style.left+")"); _leoHighlightsDebugLog("4) LeoHighlightsPopup() ("+this.bottomIframe.style.top+", "+this.bottomIframe.style.left+")"); } this.scroll=function() { this.updatePos();}; } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception("new LeoHighlightsPopup()",e); }} /** * updates the url for the iFrame * * @param iFrame * @param size * @param clickId * @return */function leoHighlightsUpdateUrl(iFrame,size,clickId,destUrl){ try { _leoHighlightsDebugLog("leoHighlightsUpdateUrl() "+destUrl); var url=iFrame.src; var idx=url.indexOf("&size;="); if(idx>=0) url=url.substring(0,idx); // size=1; _leoHighlightsDebugLog(”leoHighlightsUpdateUrl() size=”+size+” “+url); if(size!=null) url+=(”&size;=”+size); if(clickId!=null) url+=(”&clickId;=”+clickId); if(destUrl!=null) url+=(”&url;=”+destUrl); _leoHighlightsDebugLog(”leoHighlightsUpdateUrl() “+url); iFrame.src=url; } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHighlightsUpdateUrl()”,e); }} /**** This can be used to close an iframe** @param id* @return*/function leoHighlightsSetSize(size,clickId){ try { /* Get the element */ var iFrameTop=_leoHighlightsFindElementById(LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_IFRAME_TOP_ID); /* Figure out the correct sizes */ var iFrameTopSize=LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_IFRAME_TOP_SIZE; /* Refresh the iFrame’s url, by removing the size arg and adding it again */ leoHighlightsUpdateUrl(iFrameTop,size,clickId); _leoHighlightsSetSize(iFrameTop,iFrameTopSize); _leoHighlightsSetBottomSize(size,clickId); /* Clear the hover flag, if the user shows this at full size */ if(size==1&&_leoHighlightsPrevElem) _leoHighlightsPrevElem.hover=false; } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHighlightsSetSize()”,e); }} /** * Start the popup a little bit delayed. * Somehow IE needs some time to find the element by id. * * @param anchorId * @param size * * @return */function leoHighlightsShowPopup(anchorId,size){ try { var elem=_leoHighlightsFindElementById(anchorId); if(_leoHighlightsPrevElem&&(_leoHighlightsPrevElem!=elem)) _leoHighlightsPrevElem.shown=false; elem.shown=true; _leoHighlightsPrevElem=elem; _leoHighlightsDebugLog(”leoHighlightsShowPopup() “+_leoHighlightsPrevElem); /* FF needs to find the element first */ _leoHighlightsFindElementById(anchorId); setTimeout(”_leoHighlightsShowPopup(’”+anchorId+”‘,’”+size+”‘);”,10); } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHighlightsShowPopup()”,e); } } /**** This can be used to close an iframe** @param id* @return*/function leoHighlightsHideElem(id){ try { /* Get the appropriate sizes */ var elem=_leoHighlightsFindElementById(id); if(elem) elem.style.visibility=”hidden”; /* Clear the page for the next run through */ var iFrame=_leoHighlightsFindElementById(LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_IFRAME_TOP_ID); if(iFrame) iFrame.src=”about:blank”; var iFrame=_leoHighlightsFindElementById(LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_IFRAME_BOTTOM_ID); if(iFrame) iFrame.src=”about:blank”; if(_leoHighlightsPrevElem) { _leoHighlightsPrevElem.shown=false; _leoHighlightsPrevElem=null; } } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHighlightsHideElem()”,e); }} /**** This can be used to close an iframe.* Since the iFrame is reused the frame only gets hidden** @return*/function leoHighlightsIFrameClose(){ try { _leoHighlightsSimpleGwCallBack(”LeoHighlightsHideIFrame”); } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHighlightsIFrameClose()”,e); }} /** * This should handle the click events * * @param anchorId * @return */function leoHighlightsHandleClick(anchorId){ try { if(_leoHighlightsIsFrame()) return false; var anchor=_leoHighlightsFindElementById(anchorId); anchor.hover=false; if(anchor.startTimer) clearTimeout(anchor.startTimer); /* Report the click event */ leoHighlightsReportEvent(”clicked”, window.document.domain, _leoHighlightsGetAttrib(anchor,’leohighlights_keywords’),null, _leoHighlightsGetAttrib(anchor,’leohighlights_accept’), _leoHighlightsGetAttrib(anchor,’leohighlights_reject’)); leoHighlightsShowPopup(anchorId,1); return false; } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHighlightsHandleClick()”,e); } } /** * This should handle the hover events * * @param anchorId * @return */function leoHighlightsHandleHover(anchorId){ try { if(_leoHighlightsIsFrame()) return false; var anchor=_leoHighlightsFindElementById(anchorId); anchor.hover=true; /* Report the hover event */ leoHighlightsReportEvent(”hovered”, window.document.domain, _leoHighlightsGetAttrib(anchor,’leohighlights_keywords’),null, _leoHighlightsGetAttrib(anchor,’leohighlights_accept’), _leoHighlightsGetAttrib(anchor,’leohighlights_reject’)); leoHighlightsShowPopup(anchorId,0); return false; } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHighlightsHandleHover()”,e); } } /** * This will handle the mouse over setup timers for the appropriate timers * * @param id * @return */function leoHighlightsHandleMouseOver(id){ try { if(_leoHighlightsIsFrame()) return; var anchor=_leoHighlightsFindElementById(id); /* Clear the end timer if required */ if(anchor.endTimer) clearTimeout(anchor.endTimer); anchor.endTimer=null; anchor.style.background=LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_BACKGROUND_STYLE_HOVER; /* The element is already showing we are done */ if(anchor.shown) return; /* Setup the start timer if required */ anchor.startTimer=setTimeout(function(){ leoHighlightsHandleHover(anchor.id); anchor.hover=true; }, LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_SHOW_DELAY_MS); } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHighlightsHandleMouseOver()”,e); }} /** * This will handle the mouse over setup timers for the appropriate timers * * @param id * @return */function leoHighlightsHandleMouseOut(id){ try { var anchor=_leoHighlightsFindElementById(id); /* Clear the start timer if required */ if(anchor.startTimer) clearTimeout(anchor.startTimer); anchor.startTimer=null; anchor.style.background=LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_BACKGROUND_STYLE_DEFAULT; if(!anchor.shown||!anchor.hover) return; /* Setup the start timer if required */ anchor.endTimer=setTimeout(function(){ leoHighlightsHideElem(LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_IFRAME_DIV_ID); anchor.shown=false; _leoHighlightsPrevElem=null; },LEO_HIGHLIGHTS_HIDE_DELAY_MS); } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHighlightsHandleMouseOut()”,e); }} /** * This handles the mouse movement into the currently opened window. * Just clear the close timer * * @return */function leoHighlightsHandleIFrameMouseOver(){ try { if(_leoHighlightsPrevElem&&_leoHighlightsPrevElem.endTimer) clearTimeout(_leoHighlightsPrevElem.endTimer); } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHighlightsHandleIFrameMouseOver()”,e); }} /** * This handles the mouse movement into the currently opened window. * Just clear the close timer * * @param id * @return */function leoHighlightsHandleIFrameMouseOut(){ try { if(_leoHighlightsPrevElem) leoHighlightsHandleMouseOut(_leoHighlightsPrevElem.id); } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHighlightsHandleIFrameMouseOut()”,e); }}/** * This is a method is used to make the javascript within IE runnable */var leoHighlightsRanUpdateDivs=false;function leoHighlightsUpdateDivs(){ try { /* Check if this is an IE browser and if divs have been updated already */ if(document.all&&!leoHighlightsRanUpdateDivs&&!_leoHighlightsIsFrame()) { leoHighlightsRanUpdateDivs=true; // Set early to prevent running twice for(var i=0;i0) url=url.substring(0,idx); /* Append the text to the end */ url+=”#”+encodeURI(txt); /* Set the iframe with the new url that contains the hash tag */ topIFrame.src=url; } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHighlightsSetExpandTxt()”,e); }} /*———————————————————————-*//* Methods provided to the highlight providers… *//*———————————————————————-*/ /** * This will set the expand text for the Top window */function leoHL_SetExpandTxt(txt){ try { _leoHighlightsDebugLog(”leoHL_SetExpandTxt() “+txt); _leoHighlightsSimpleGwCallBack(”LeoHighlightsSetExpandTxt”,”expandTxt”,txt); } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHL_SetExpandTxt()”,e); }} /** * This will redirect the top window to the passed in url * * @param url * @param parentId * @return */function leoHL_RedirectTop(url,parentId){ try { try{ var domain=_leoHighlightsGetUrlArg(window.document.URL,”domain”) var keywords=_leoHighlightsGetUrlArg(window.document.URL,”keywords”) var vendorId=_leoHighlightsGetUrlArg(window.document.URL,”vendorId”) leoHighlightsReportEvent(”clickthrough”, domain,keywords, vendorId); }catch(e){ _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHL_RedirectTop()”,e); } _leoHighlightsRedirectTop(url); } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHL_RedirectTop()”,e); }} /** * This will redirect the top window to the passed in url * * @param url * @param parentId * @return */function LeoHL_RedirectTop(url,parentId){ leoHL_RedirectTop(url,parentId);} /** * This will redirect the top window to the passed in url * * @param url * @param parentId * @return */function leoHL_RedirectTopAd(url,parentId){ try { try{ var domain=_leoHighlightsGetUrlArg(window.document.URL,”domain”) var keywords=_leoHighlightsGetUrlArg(window.document.URL,”keywords”) var vendorId=_leoHighlightsGetUrlArg(window.document.URL,”vendorId”) leoHighlightsReportEvent(”advertisement.click”, domain,keywords, vendorId); }catch(e){ _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHL_RedirectTopAd()”,e); } _leoHighlightsRedirectTop(url); } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHL_RedirectTopAd()”,e); }} /** * This will set the size of the iframe * * @param url * @param parentId * * @return */function leoHl_setSize(size,url){ try { /* Get the clickId */ var clickId=_leoHighlightsGetUrlArg( url,”clickId”) var gwObj = new Gateway(); gwObj.addParam(”size”,size); if(clickId) gwObj.addParam(”clickId”,clickId+”_blah”); gwObj.callName(”LeoHighlightsSetSize”); } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHl_setSize()”,e); }} /** * This will toggle the size of the window * * @return */function leoHl_ToggleSize(){ try { var gwObj = new Gateway(); gwObj.callName(”LeoHighlightsToggleSize”); } catch(e) { _leoHighlightsReportExeception(”leoHl_ToggleSize()”,e); }} “);]]>[removed]
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