You could be wondering how you ended up here, searching online on how to manage your debt commitments when a few months ago you seemed to be sitting pretty financially. Your finances have got the best of you, and you need to get back control before your debt spirals out of control. The awful effect of this spiral is the immense amount of strain and worry it lays on you and your family. You have two options; bury your head in the sand and hope things will “sort themselves out,” or get into gear and take control of the problem.
Budgeting
All great financial management starts with a budget. Do you know exactly how much you are spending on the bills to keep your home running? Are you overbuying food each week, leaving much to go to waste that could form your very own compost? Are you insistent on keeping a car on finance that costs $400 a month, is it necessary to keep on spending over the odds on clothes because you can’t bear wearing the same outfit twice in a week, or the gym subscription you’ve had since new years, and used twice. Well, then you need to ask yourself what’s more important, keeping up with the Joneses, making payments for things you don’t need or use right now, or preserving your mental health by relieving you of financial worry and keeping your home. Everyone can cut back somewhere, it might be painful canceling some of the luxuries in your life, but long-term gratification prevails over short-term gain. Cut the unnecessary items back and give yourself more funds to pay off those pesky debts.
Loan Consolidation
Some of us become so frazzled by the sheer capacity of payments we need to make per month, that every time those bill and debt payments come knocking on your bank accounts door, it can be likened to a deer caught in headlights scenario. An option to relieve this monthly crisis is to make paying your monthly debts a lot simpler. Personal loans for debt consolidation combines all of your debts into one payment and to one place. This gives you back the time you spend mulling over which creditors have been paid and how long until they’re paid off. A benefit of this option is you could secure a low-interest rate if you have you are eligible for a secured loan. A secured loan is granted on the basis you have collateral to hand to the loan company in the event you are no longer able to pay your debt.
Credit Card
There are offers to transfer credit card balances to other credit card companies, such as SoFi, with a proposed benefit a small interest rate. This is usually for a short-term only. The trick to beating the credit card company at its own game is to pay the credit off within the low-interest rate period and then cancel the card to save further spending. If you don’t pay off the all of the credit by the end of the low-interest period, you need to be quick to transfer the credit elsewhere to another low-interest card. If you fail to pay off or switch the balance to another bank in time, your interest rate will rocket. Don’t view the credit card transfer as a means to ignore the debt, use it to your advantage, establish how much you can set aside each month to pay down the credit and avoid any future hefty charges. This option is ideally suited to those with smaller debts, as credit card companies do not tend to allow a particularly large balance. Credit card balance transfers are subject to an application only, there is no guarantee you will be granted this offer.
Although budgeting and cutbacks are essential and free to regain control of your finances. Other options such as balance transfer to a credit card, personal loan for debt consolidation should be approached with caution. Read as much information as you can on any new credit or loan ventures, analyze the pros and cons including the potential risks of not paying your debit or credit card. Identify the end goal, when you would like to pay off your debt and how you’re going to achieve that goal. Keep a record of a timeline to show you your progress, and count down the months to being debt free. Another option which may help is to make an extra income in your spare time by starting your very own blog. You can do it just takes some organization.