Bad credit card debt can make your life miserable with worry and telephone calls from collectors. It doesn't have to be that way. No matter how bad your debt is, there are ways to manage it. One of the best ways is to consolidate all of your debts onto one credit card. You need to check what's right for you but there are a number of cards available in the uK which offer solutions.
Debt consolidation using a bad credit card is a good choice for you if you:
- are paying off several cards at once
- have staggered bill payment due dates
- sometimes make late payments because you forget a payment due date
- would like to pay less interest on your debt (sometimes as low as 0%)
While transferring all of your existing debt to one card won't reduce the amount that you owe, it can make your debt easier to pay off and manage in many ways. When you transfer the outstanding balances from higher interest credit cards to a 0% balance transfer card, you could save yourself hundreds per year in interest payments.
Of course, nothing is ever quite that easy. There's no guarantee that you'll save money when you use credit cards to manage your debt. You'll need to work through your accounts and figure out if consolidation is the best option for you to save money. Here are some guidelines to help you figure out if moving your all your debt to one credit card is the right decision for you.
1. Figure out what you're paying each month.
Gather all your statements together. Note how much you owe on each card, and the interest rate that you're paying. Also note how much you're paying each month, and total up the amounts to figure out how just how bad your monthly debt outgoing is.
2. Compare balance transfer cards online.
Compare them side by side to weed out the best credit card for you. Make sure that you take into account associated fees to find out how much it will cost you to consolidate your cards in this way.
3. Figure out how much interest you'd pay at your current interest rates.
A credit card interest calculator will make this step easier. Figure out how much interest you'll end up paying if you continue paying off your debt at the current rates.
4. Compare the cost of transferring your credit card balance to the cost of paying off the credit cards you currently hold.
When you sit down and make comparisons, you'll find it much easier to decide whether transferring all of your bad credit cards debts to one lower interest credit card makes sense for you.
Debt consolidation using a bad credit card is a good choice for you if you:
- are paying off several cards at once
- have staggered bill payment due dates
- sometimes make late payments because you forget a payment due date
- would like to pay less interest on your debt (sometimes as low as 0%)
While transferring all of your existing debt to one card won't reduce the amount that you owe, it can make your debt easier to pay off and manage in many ways. When you transfer the outstanding balances from higher interest credit cards to a 0% balance transfer card, you could save yourself hundreds per year in interest payments.
Of course, nothing is ever quite that easy. There's no guarantee that you'll save money when you use credit cards to manage your debt. You'll need to work through your accounts and figure out if consolidation is the best option for you to save money. Here are some guidelines to help you figure out if moving your all your debt to one credit card is the right decision for you.
1. Figure out what you're paying each month.
Gather all your statements together. Note how much you owe on each card, and the interest rate that you're paying. Also note how much you're paying each month, and total up the amounts to figure out how just how bad your monthly debt outgoing is.
2. Compare balance transfer cards online.
Compare them side by side to weed out the best credit card for you. Make sure that you take into account associated fees to find out how much it will cost you to consolidate your cards in this way.
3. Figure out how much interest you'd pay at your current interest rates.
A credit card interest calculator will make this step easier. Figure out how much interest you'll end up paying if you continue paying off your debt at the current rates.
4. Compare the cost of transferring your credit card balance to the cost of paying off the credit cards you currently hold.
When you sit down and make comparisons, you'll find it much easier to decide whether transferring all of your bad credit cards debts to one lower interest credit card makes sense for you.