How consolidating your credit card debt can save you money.
$32,000,000,000. Yes Thirty Two Billion Dollars. That is the credit card debt currently owed by Australians, that’s an average of around $4,300 per card holder.
With interest rates on credit cards typically running at 15% to 24% the average credit card owner would be paying $650 to $1,000 per year in interest.
This doesn’t include any fee’s and charges the credit card provider may charge.
Add in a second credit card or a personal loan or two, and it is not difficult to see why it is so easy to get yourself into financial strife with debt.
How do you get on top and manage your credit card debt? Read on to find out…..
Top Three Tips for Managing Credit Card Debt
Your individual situation will most likely be very different to the national averages. You may have significantly more credit card debt or you may have none.
Regardless of how much or little credit card debt you may have, the following 3 tips are worth following (at least the first two if you have no debt).
- Have a budget – if you don’t know what your income and expenditure looks like each month, there is no way to know if you can afford that new dress, latest iPhone or that cruise you have been dying to take.
- Set up a regular savings – savings form an important part of your household finances, allowing you to afford the bigger ticket items or pay for those unexpected expenses.
- Consolidate your debts – This simplifies your repayments and means you only have to deal with one interest rate. Typically you will end up paying a lower amount of interest which will save you money.
How to get on top of your finances with Debt Consolidation
What exactly is “Debt Consolidation” – it means refinancing your debt onto the lowest interest rate possible – and setting up a realistic repayment plan to get it paid off!
The key here is having the plan to pay off the debt. If you don’t budget to pay off the debt, all that will happen is that you will keep on getting further and further into debt.
So what are the 3 Main Options for Consolidating Credit Card Debt?
- Transfer your Credit Card Debt onto another Credit Card offering Balance Transfer Rates
This can be a great option, as there are many Credit Card providers offering 0% on balance transfers for 6 or 12 months. However, this only works if you can pay off the debt within that time period.
While you can continue to transfer the debt from card to card, this will start impacting your credit score and could impact on what lenders will give you in the future.
- Consolidate your Credit Card Debt with a personal loan
Using a personal loan for debt consolidation has the significant benefit of the personal loan having a defined lifespan. The repayments will have been calculated so you pay off the loan over a certain timeframe (3 to 7 years).
This will save you a significant amount of money in interest, but you may end up having to repay more each month on the personal loan than you currently paying off the credit cards.
- Incorporate your Credit Card Debt into your Home Loan
Provided you actual have a mortgage and equity in your home that can be used for debt consolidation.
By incorporating your credit card / personal loan debt into the home loan, and increasing your home loan repayments accordingly will not only save you on interest but will allow you to pay off the home loan sooner.
Of course these strategies will only work if you stop adding to your current credit card debt. If you cannot control your spending habits the best option is to cut up the credit card. If you can commit to controlling your spending, then debt consolidation can save you a lot of money.
Would you like some help to save money while getting rid of unwanted credit card debt? Don’t know where to start? Give me a call on 07 3423 8730 or fill in the enquiry form here to set up a free and no-obligation chat to see how I can help you get rid of your unwanted debt and to save money.