Budgeting and Paying Debt on Your Own
You track your expenses, set financial goals and tailor your lifestyle to meet them. Use a credit card payoff calculator to figure out how quickly you can pay off your debt.
Pros:
- It’s free. There’s no need to hire a third party to set up a budget or negotiate with credit card companies for better terms.
- You are the master of your own financial destiny.
Cons:
- It can be time consuming.
- You can be sued by your credit card companies.
- Your creditors could garnish your wages.
- You might make budgeting mistakes or need the services of professional counselors and negotiators.
Time to repay: That’s up to you.
Balance Transfer
You move your debt to a new credit card offering a lower interest rate, sometimes as low as 0% for up to 18 months.
Pros:
- No interest should mean a lower monthly bill.
- You can consolidate credit cards into one payment.
Cons:
- You’re exposing yourself to being even deeper in debt. You must read and adhere to the fine print. That low introductory rate always has an expiration date. If you don’t pay off your debt in time, you might end up paying a higher interest rate than you had with the card you abandoned.
Time to repay: It depends on your terms. Say you have $5,000 of debt and make monthly $400 payments. With a 20% APR it would take 15 months and you’d pay a total of $6,000. A 15% APR would take 14 months and you’d pay a total of $5,600. A zero-percent interest means 13 months, or a month longer than most 0% balance transfer cards allow.
Credit Card Debt Consolidation Companies
Credit card debt consolidation companies can help you by paying off all of your credit card debt and leaving you with a single loan to pay off. The key is getting beneficial credit consolidation loan terms (i.e. low-interest rate) that save you money.
Pros:
- Simplicity. Instead of dealing with bills from each credit card, you have one monthly payment.
- Your financial burden is eased.
Cons:
- If you use your house or other assets to secure the loan, you could lose them if you default on payments.
- If the interest rate isn’t low enough and/or the pay-off time is excessive, you might end up with more debt than when you started.
Time to repay: It varies, but most debt-consolidation loans are for 36-to-60 months.
Home Equity Loan/Line of Credit
It’s essentially a second mortgage. You use your house as collateral to get a loan that is paid over a fixed term. Or with Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC), a lender opens an account you can draw from as the needs arise.
Pros:
- Interest rates are generally far lower than those offered by credit cards.
- You can consolidate all your debts and have one monthly payment.
- A HELOC offers the flexibility of borrowing smaller amounts depending on your circumstances.
Cons:
- Your house is used to secure the debt, so it could be foreclosed if you fail to make payments.
- Closing costs, such as attorney fees, appraisal fees, title search and points.
- If you get an adjustable interest rate and the market doesn’t cooperate, you could end up with a credit-card type interest rate.
- You’ll need a favorable debt-to-income ratio to qualify.
Time to repay: HELOC draw periods are usually 5-10 years and repayment periods are 10-20 years. Home equity loans can be taken out for up to 30 years.
Debt Management Program
You hire a non-profit credit counseling agency to negotiate better terms with the credit card agencies. A counselor reviews your financial situation and tailors a budget. You make one monthly payment to the company, which distributes those funds to the creditors.
Pros:
- Lower interest rates and simplified financial obligations.
- You get a clear picture of those obligations, and counseling typically includes a course on budgeting that could enlighten you.
Cons:
- If you miss a payment, creditors will remove you from the DMP list and might restore previous terms.
Time to repay: Most DMPs are for 36-to-60 months.
Debt Settlement
The most radical remedy, recommended only if your credit card headache is migraine caliber and all but incurable. You stop paying your credit card bills and a company tries to negotiate a reduced settlement with creditors on your behalf. You pay the company that amount, either in a lump sum or monthly payments. It distributes that money to your creditors.
Pros:
- Your debt can be drastically reduced, sometimes more than 50%.
- You make one payment a month instead of many.
Cons:
- It destroys your credit score when you stop paying your bills. Accounts usually need to be three to four months delinquent before creditors will negotiate a reduced payment. In the meantime, late fees and credit score damage piles up. Debt settlement stays on your credit score for seven years.
- There is no guarantee creditors will agree to a reduced payment. If they refuse you will be in worse financial shape than you started.
- You must pay taxes on the debt that is forgiven.
- The industry has a shady reputation since companies make money by taking a hefty percentage of the debt that’s negotiated.
- Most people don’t understand that debt settlement will not help you pay off your debt faster. It can take years of monthly payments to the law firm to build a fund large enough for the attorney to negotiate with.
Time to repay: Typically two to four years.
Credit Counseling
This is the often the easiest and most effective treatment. A professional studies your financial situation and advises you how to escape credit card debt.
Pros:
- They do the work for you.
- There is usually no fee to discuss your situation with a counselor.
Cons:
- None, as long as you use a reputable credit counseling agency. Check out the National Foundation for Credit Counseling for recommendation at https://www.nfcc.org/about-us/.
Time to repay: It depends on which program (DMP, HELOC, etc.) you choose, assuming the counselor advises one of those treatments.
Key word: Treatment.
All these programs are really just ways to deal with symptoms. Because the true cause of credit card headaches isn’t credit cards. It’s the person using them. In fact, average credit card debt varies by state, level of education and income, among other factors.
If you take one of the aspirins we’ve discussed, your condition will only return if you keep spending beyond your means. So pick a treatment that best suits you.
Just remember, only you can cure yourself from credit card pain. If you do, imagine how much easier it will be to deal with life’s other headaches.
Wonder if there’s a cure for Justin Bieber?