We have all seen them or heard them.
The financial “experts” out there who either post a podcast or blog entry who give a few bullet points of how to get out of debt.
I am not saying that these people are not bright or trustworthy….in fact, I guarantee most of them know more about money than I do. But what annoys me is the bullet point that says something along the lines of “try to pay down your credit card debt. This will allow you to avoid the interest payments & you can put that money into savings”
no duh.
Dont you think that if the person COULD pay it off, they would??? YES, I know some would not, & the “pay off your debt” idea may actually be a new concept to them. I am not talking about those bozos.
I am talking about the person who has debt (whether they made some poor choices or just some bad luck, or a combination of the 2) , knows they have debt, knows they need to get out, & would PAY IT OFF IF THEY COULD, but are falling further behind every day & need some real advice.
If the person only makes a certain amount, they can only pay off a certain amount of the debt. They KNOW they need to pay down the debt….telling them to do it is like telling the second place guy in the marathon that he needs to run faster if he wants to win…..no duh.
If you are one of those people who are sick of the “to get out of credit card debt, you need to pay it off”, here is some real advice.
The main issue is likely the interest rates. If you pay $300/month, but you have $200 charged to you every month….it is going to be tough to pay off that credit card. You need a low interest or 0% interest intro rate.
Many credit cards offer this. Even in today’s tough times, there are a few credit card company’s that still have some great 0% balance transfer offers for up to a year.
By transferring the balance to 0%, you can get 6-12 months to use that cash that usually goes to interest, for the principal.
@ a month before the expiration, transfer that balance to another one.
Will this hurt your credit? Not always, but it could……HOWEVER, NOT paying your bill because you cannot afford it or paying it late will hurt your credit much worse.
You are not in a good situation, so you gotta take the lesser of the 2 evils.
This website reviews the terms for balance transfer credit cards in much detail. go ahead & find one you like (& are qualified for) & apply directly from the site. They make a commission from the application approval, but they make a donation to a charity with that $$, so if you are going to do this, please use them.
until next time
cb
Filed under: consumer balance transfer credit cards | Tagged: balance transfer credit cards, best balance transfer credit cards, best credit card offers
