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As any financial expert or debt advisor will tell you, the way to approach tackling your financial woes is to take a systematic approach. However, there are a few different strategies you can employ on your quest to become debt free. Some will work well for you; others may not. But how can you tell which is best for you and your finances?
Today, we’re going to go through a broad range of debt-tackling strategies and explain everything you need to know. Let’s take a closer look at some of your options, and – we hope – point you in the right direction for the strategy best for your situation.
Debt Consolidation
Most debt experts will advise you that you should never consolidate your debts – or, at the very least, be incredibly careful about doing so. However, there are some benefits in going down this route as long as you do your research and choose the right path. For example, interest-free balance transfers can switch your debts so that you don’t pay any interest at all for a set period, meaning all the repayments go towards paying the debt off. However, given that you need a good credit score to enjoy interest-free balance transfers, it’s not always an option. In this case, you might try to look for bad credit loans and consolidate that way. Bear in mind that these can be expensive, so it’s important to work out whether consolidation is worth your while. It might be the case that tackling your debts individually is a more cost-efficient tactic. If you decide that this route is better, the following strategies might help.
The Avalanche
The avalanche method is where you pay off your debts one at a time, focusing on the debt with the highest interest – or highest balance – first. Once you have paid off your highest interest debt, you move onto the next highest, and so on. Using this method is thought to be useful as your higher interest debts will, ultimately, cost you more. However, if the debt is large, it can take a significant amount of time to pay it off, and it requires you to put a lot of money towards it if you want to see quick results.
The Snowball
The debt snowball method focuses on your smallest debts first. The idea here is to get rid of your debts in a systematic way, eliminating them one by one and feeling like you are making progress. Now, let’s take a look at some of the snowball and avalanche methods in more detail.
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APR Method
This method involves working out which creditor is charging you the highest annual percentage rate. You continue paying your minimum repayment to all other creditors, and put any spare money into the highest interest charger. Once you have cleared the first debt, you move onto the next – not forgetting to include your minimum repayment. As you pay off each debt, you can take the minimum payments from your old debts and add them to the next biggest debts, ‘snowballing’ your repayment amounts as you go along. By the time you start paying off your largest debts, you should have a significant sum of money set aside, and it should – in theory – take less time to clear.
Highest Balance Method
You can also consider the highest balance method to repay your debts. This strategy can work if you have a couple of big debts that seem impossible to erase. However, if you put every spare cent you have into tackling your most significant debt, it won’t take long to start seeing your results. Let’s say you have $5,000 on a credit card. If you could, for example, pay $200 a month, in a year’s time you will have whittled this down to $2,800, assuming you have managed to freeze all other interest charges. It’s a dramatic impact that has reduced your debt with that creditor by almost half.
Quick Win
When you keep getting bill after bill in the mail, debts can actually start impacting your life and wellbeing. And it’s always difficult to know where to start. There is a solution, however – go down the quick win route. Using this strategy puts your focus on eliminating your easiest debts first – the ones with the lowest number of repayments left. If there are two debts with similar end dates, tackle the one with the higher monthly payment. While this strategy might cost you more in the long-term than, say, the APR method, it will still give you a sense of momentum. And, most importantly, reduce the number of debts you have far quicker than the other strategies.
Low Balance
Similar to the quick win strategy, the small balance method involves tackling easy debts first – the ones with the least amount of money outstanding. Removing these irritating small debts gives you a sense of momentum, and you can then collate all the minimum repayment monies and use them to tackle the bigger problem areas. If you are struggling to pay off your debts, it’s a strategy worth considering as research shows it is often the most successful.
The family loan
Finally, consider borrowing money from a family member or trusted friend. There are a few reasons why this can work for both parties. First of all, let’s take a look at this strategy from your family member’s point of view. If your mom or dad has, say, money in a standard savings account, the chances are that they aren’t earning lots of interest on it. So, you could offer them a better deal over a set period of time, while still enjoying a lower interest rate than you are currently paying your creditors. This strategy is like a super-charged consolidation plan, as everyone on your side of the fence wins – and you get to pay off your creditors in one hit. It’s always worth doing this as the sooner you can repay your problem debts, the sooner you can start rebuilding your credit score and reducing the impact on your lifestyle and borrowing power.
