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You’ve resolved to pay off your debt. The bad news? You have loads of debt to tackle. The sheer number of your creditors is overwhelming. You owe thousands of dollars to multiple credit card providers. You have unpaid medical bills. Also, the utility company is wondering where your last payment was.
The good news? There are several strategies you can take to reduce your debt. The key to finding the right one? It is all about looking at your personal habits and your financial situation.
The snowball method
The snowball debt repayment method works well for those consumers who want to see quick results. It also helps those that are so overwhelmed by the sheer number of their creditors that they need to reduce that number as quickly as possible.
In the snowball method, you’ll pay off your creditors one at a time, paying off the creditor that you owe the least to first. For instance, if you have five credit cards that are accumulating debt, you’d pay off the card on which you only owe $250. Once that debt is paid off, you move on to the creditor to which you owe the next greatest amount of money.
The benefit of this method is simple: It provides quick satisfaction. You will feel a sense of accomplishment every time you tick a creditor off your list. The snowball method also helps you gain more control over your debt quickly by reducing the number of creditors about which you have to worry.
The drawback here is that you will spend more money in the long-term tackling your debt. That is something that the next debt-payback method addresses.
The avalanche method
Under the avalanche method, you again tick off your creditors one by one. However, instead of initially targeting those creditors to whom you owe the least, you target the creditors that are charging you the highest interest rate.
If you’ve maxed out three credit cards, pay off the one that comes with the highest interest rate first. The reason? You’ll save a significant amount of interest by paying down your high-interest-rate cards first.
On the downside, this method will not produce positive results as quickly as the snowball method. However, you will reduce the debt that is costing you the most money first. Over the long-term, you’ll save money by embracing this approach to paying your debts.
Making additional payments
You can reduce the amount of time it takes to pay off debt by making additional payments, too. The best news? You can make these extra payments according to your schedule. This is an excellent option for consumers who regularly receive bonuses or commission checks. When these consumers acquire a bit of extra money, they might be able to make an additional payment to their credit card, mortgage loan or auto loan company.
For instance, consider if you owe $2,500 on a credit card and have an interest rate of 18 percent and only pay the minimum payment each month of $62.50. It would take you 62 months to pay off your debt. During this time, you will have paid a whopping $1,346 in interest.
However, if you had that same debt with the same interest rate and you instead pay $150 a month, it would take you 20 months to pay off your debt. You would pay $398 in interest during this time.
What works for you
These are just some of the several debt-reduction strategies that you can use to pay back your creditors. Before relying on one of these strategies, though, make sure to take a honest look at your household finances. Before beginning any debt-repayment plan, you’ll need to determine exactly how much you can afford to pay each month to reduce your debt.
You can only do this if you first determine how much of your monthly income your total monthly debt obligations consume.
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