For those who have sufficient equity in their current property, this type of loan may be seen as highly beneficial. By using your property as security for the debt consolidation loan, it is likely that a better rate of interest can be obtained than with a traditional debt consolidation loan. If the debt consolidation is being added to the current mortgage, the rate is likely to be the same as for the current mortgage, which is almost invariably favourable when compared to any standalone, unsecured loan. Mortgages can often be repaid over a long period of time, in some cases up to 30 years. This means that the actual monthly payments can be reduced considerably, but the payments will continue for longer. In practice, this means that, by the end of the term, the total amount repaid may be much larger than if the individual smaller loans had been paid, when necessary. In some cases, however, when the monthly payments are simply unmanageable, spreading them over a longer period of time may offer the ideal solution.