Can credit cards help you to consolidate your debt?
23rd November 2011
When you look into debt consolidation you will mainly find that it comes in the form of a loan. There are a lot of different lenders who offer debt consolidation loans and they are often used to pay off credit card debt. However, did you know that you can also use credit cards to consolidate your debt?
“While it is not as common, more and more people are starting to discover the advantages of consolidating their debts using a credit card. In some cases it can be an ideal solution. However, there are things that you need to consider before you decide to go down this particular route.
When Credit Card Consolidation May be a Bad Idea
The decision about whether to use a credit card to consolidate your debts will depend entirely upon the amount of debt that you have. If you have a pay day loan then you need to look at how much interest you are being charged. Then look at your credit card fees. Would it be more expensive to pay for the debt on your credit card than it would be to pay it directly to the lender? In most circumstances the answer is yes.
Credit cards do tend to come with a higher interest rate than those that are charged by other lenders. Therefore it can actually be more expensive to consolidate your debts using your card than it would be to take out a loan.
Using Credit Card Debt Consolidation Properly
In order to make credit card consolidation work, you need to find a 0% balance transfer deal. This allows you to move your current credit card balance over to another card. As the new card has a 0% interest free offer, you will not need to pay more than what you owe. The time period that these offers usually last for are from 3-12 months. You will need to compare the market to see what the current top offers are. 12 month interest free offers are quite rare these days.
By stopping the interest payments, it gives you a better chance of paying off the amount that you owe before the offer ends. You can move balances onto the card from a number of different cards. This is ideal if you have store cards and credit cards to contend with. By moving them all onto one account, it will help you to better manage your balance.
To sum up, consolidating your debts with a credit card can be useful in some circumstances. However, if you have personal loans then it would be a much better idea to take out a debt consolidation loan with a lender. Credit card debt is actually the best type of debt to consolidate using other credit cards. Just make sure that you look at the interest rate before you sign up to anything. There are a lot of 0% balance transfer offers that you can take advantage of. Try to find one which offers 12 months interest free whenever possible.
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