Consolidate Your Debt For Free

You have reached a stage of frustration and are finding it difficult to live under the burden of debt. Why not get out of it through debt consolidation? That is cumbersome and involves dealing with yet another agency. So why not do it yourself?

Yes, you can provided you have a plan and through this, you can put aside much needed money through reduced interest and come out free from debt.

Here are some tips to go about it:

1) Commit to yourself that there will be no further debt and get rid of the cards to start with. No cards mean no indiscriminate expenses and no unnecessary debt.
2) Make a list of all debt in an excel sheet and it should have the following:

a) Name of the lender
b) Current principal liability
c) The minimum payment due
d) The rate of interest
e) Contact numbers
f) Email and website

If you have any credit open, make a mention of that also. It will come in handy.

3) The next step is to commence checking with each of the card companies about their balance transfer offers. Make sure to tell them that you would shift the account if you happen to get a good offer.

4) Make sure that you maintain notes of any offer on the excel sheet and also check for any hidden clauses. Ensure that you verify delayed payment charges and the tenure of the low interest rates.
5) You need to be alert about a popular marketing plan to entice members with a low rate for the transferred balance with a commitment for a minimum amount every billing cycle. Any outstanding on this is charged at a higher rate, which is fine on the face of it but can be costly if you do not pay off your transferred balance. This is because the card company will levy the lower interest rate first on the transferred balance and not on the other one. This will continue till the balance is settled.

Now you need to choose the best offer and transfer all balances to this card. If you fall short, do not hesitate to ask for an increase in the credit limit. If that is also not provided, take the next best offer.

Make a note of when the special offer ends so that you are able to clear your balance transfers. This way you will not have more than 2 cards and will be able to manage your finances far better.

Most finance advisors would be of the opinion that you need to close the non functional accounts, but it is better to keep them for any major exigency that you might face in future. Just have the discipline to not use them. This way your credit rating will not suffer and you have the option of falling back on these accounts. This advice comes with a caveat that if you are unsure of your spending discipline, then you need to close them with immediate effect.

Do not make the mistake of mixing up the credit card debt with real estate collateral. Failure to pay will risk your house getting repossessed.

Follow the above steps and be your own master finance advisor.