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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. You never know your exact financial position and it can be easy to miss payment deadlines and incur late payment fees and charges. 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: Another key reason for debt consolidation is to cut the amount of interest you are paying. 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 are unable to consolidate all your debts into one then start with the highest interest debts and work down.
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 you're mainly concerned with credit card debt consolidation then a balance transfer may be a cost effective 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.
Richard Greenwood is founder of the Click 4 Group who run a leading network of bank and finance comparison websites including click4credit.com.au which feature debt consolidation loans including the Citibank Personal Credit product.
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