Category: Credit

Ultimately there are 2 ways to pay off credit card debts

(i) Pay off your debts in full. This means paying the full interest and principal.

(ii) Pay less than what you owe. This means keeping the maximum amount in your pocket and paying the minimum amount to your creditor.

 

Now there are 4 ways to pay less than what you owe:

• Debt settlement
• Debt management
• Credit card balance transfer method
• Bankruptcy – Chapter 7 and Chapter 13

Debt settlement brings down your outstanding balance by more than 40%. The figure varies depending on the creditor and the overall amount.

 

Debt management pulls down the interest rate depending on your affordability.

 

Bankruptcy brings down your payoff amount through the court’s intervention.

 

The credit card balance transfer method is a smart way of consolidating your debts. Here you can transfer your balance to a 0% interest credit card and pay off the outstanding balance within the introductory rate period. You can skip paying the high interest on your card.

 

There is yet another logical way to pay off your credit card debt. You pay a set amount on all your credit cards. Dedicate the remaining amount on the credit card with the highest interest. This is the optimal behavior.

 

The best and the most logical way to pay off credit card debt is to attack the card with the highest APR.

 

This process seems to be easy and practical right? But most people aren’t knocking off credit card debt in this way.

How are consumers paying off credit card debt?

A recent study of 1.4 million credit cardholders with revolving balances revealed a few startling facts. The study was conducted to determine how these people are splitting payments between credit cards. Are they splitting payments depending on interest rates or an overall balance?

 

Revelations

• Debtors are allocating only 51.5% of their extra payments to the credit card with high APR. But the right way to pay off a credit card is to devote 100% of your extra payments to the highest interest credit card.
• Only 10% of credit cardholders are paying off debts the right way.
• Debtors are evenly splitting their payments on credit cards irrespective of the interest rate and the number of cards in their hands.
• Debtors are losing money on interest payments annually. Those who have 2 credit cards are losing $90 every year due to unnecessary interest payments. Those who have 5 credit cards are losing $327 every year for the same reason.
• The top 10% of debtors with 5 or more credit cards are wasting $1000 every year due to improper allocation of payments.

The psychology behind the illogical consumer behavior

Some financial experts suggest debtors pay off their smallest balances first for easy wins and motivation. But credit card holders are not doing that. What is the psychology behind it?

 

If you study all the payment models minutely, then you’ll realize that the “balance-matching” model describes the card holder’s peculiar behavior perfectly. In the ‘balance-matching model’, “individuals match the share of repayments on each card to the share of balances on each card”

 

Suppose a cardholder owes $12,000 on one card and $6000 on another one. He can afford to pay $1500 a month on the 2 cards. There is a greater probability that the cardholder will pay $1000 on the first card ($12,000) and $500 on the second one, irrespective of interest rates.

 

The psychology behind this behavior is that balance is the first thing that comes to mind when cardholders think of credit cards. The balance is shown at the top of the credit card statement in big prints. Moreover, individuals have a greater tendency to use “’matching’ heuristics in decision-making.” Cardholders mostly make payments in relation to balances instead of interest rates. They are giving more importance to numbers instead of statements.

 

Most consumers don’t have any idea of where to start when they have huge credit card debt. They become clueless and thus start repaying debts in a completely wrong order.

 

People are confused. They don’t know how their APR changes their monthly outstanding balance. This involves loads of calculations – daily rates, annual rates, daily balance, etc. It’s not that easy.

 

What is right and what is wrong?

Tough to say. Some financial experts recommend paying off the smallest debt first due to emotional motivation. The psychological boost is a big thing for many debtors. Plus, this appears to be the simplest thing to do.

 

But is this the right financial move?

 

If you want to keep the maximum amount in your wallet, then this isn’t the best financial move. You should target the credit card with a high APR and try to knock it off as soon as possible. Just look at the last part of the multi-page credit card statement. You’ll get the APR information there.

 

Use free online debt payoff calculators to figure out how much you can pay and save on your existing debt. Use this interactive APR calculator to figure out your yearly interest payments and other expenses. Apart from these calculators, you can use a credit card payment calculator for eradicating your credit card balances.

 

Conclusion

Are you confused like most Americans? Do you want to pay off your credit card debt in the right way? If so, then call or make an appointment with a reputed financial company and get advice on paying off your debts.

A balance transfer is no joke! It’s a very serious issue, and I firmly believe it needs proper precision to be successful at it. There are things you need to pay attention to before doing a balance transfer, and to certain things after the transfer is done.

 

By now you must have already seen and come across many banks that offer balance transfer opportunities at very attractive terms and conditions. But that doesn’t mean they are welcoming you to do so!!

 

Remember, they are greeting you to do a balance transfer not only because you are in need of it, but also because they see a high profit if for once you start defaulting on payments after you have transferred your balance.

 

So, what is a balance transfer after all?

 

As per the words of finance, a balance transfer or debt transfer refers to handing over debts from one credit account to another. However, here we will discuss credit card balance transfer, which is the most widely used debt transfer type among consumers and in the current financial market.

 

Suppose you have a maxed-out credit card. A maxed-out credit card means its balance has crossed its credit limit or is just about to cross. Hence, you are pressurized to pay off this balance as soon as possible. But you see that no matter how many extra payments you make, until and unless you pay it off in full at one blow, your credit portfolio will remain hurt!

 

And, that’s exactly when a credit card balance transfer will come of great help. By opting for such an aggressive debt relief option, you can transfer your old card’s existing debt to a new card. Hence, you can search on the net for a balance transfer card and see search results from every bank offering awesome balance transfer facilities!

 

Sounds lucky and probably seems like a gift from God right?! Well, the situation is more complicated than it looks. Obviously, you will be taking a very good step, as your old card’s balance gets wiped out with a single stroke.

 

Also, you are getting a good chance to escape paying high-interest amounts, as your new card is either coming with a 0% APR (Annual Percentage Rate) intro period or a rate much lower than your previous card. But where is the catch? Where is the big deal?

 

Why do the banks want you to do a balance transfer?

 

Well, they want you to do so because you start to owe them a good amount of money by doing a balance transfer. If you have a credit card debt with bank X, then if you pay it off in the traditional way, then only bank X will get the money.

 

Now, once you transfer it to bank Y, then bank X gets paid, and so does bank Y! So in the middle of nowhere bank Y gets money from you which was previously not included in the calculation! Moreover, many banks charge a balance transfer fee. So, that’s an additional profit they are making.

 

It is very interesting I must say, how one debt can benefit multiple lenders at the same time, with you transferring the amount from one lender to another.
On an extra note, believe it or not, this is exactly the same way debt collectors work!

 

They buy the debt from your original lender at a very low price, and collect from you the original amount (this amount can accrue interest), thereby making a huge profit!

 

The balance that we carry on our credit cards is pretty high and a big amount for us, but for the banks and the tall financial institutions, they seem like ants.
Not to harm the motivation to pay off debts, but these banks really love to play with our debt amounts.

 

They will just sit back, make a profit, and see you and me jumping around with our debts, doing a balance transfer, settlement, and whatnot. That’s how it works. But, it doesn’t mean you should not execute the credit card balance transfer that you have planned for. If they can take their share of the profit, so can you.

 

Here’s how to make the best balance transfer to avoid mistakes and utilize most of them:

 

Choose a balance transfer card that offers at least 6 months of 0% APR introductory period:

 

• This should be your first preference if you plan to transfer your credit card debt.
• There are quite a number of credit cards from reputed banks that are specially designed for a balance transfer.
• If you call your choice of banks and ask them to give you all the details about their available balance transfer credit card products and the specifications they carry, then you will not be disappointed.
• So, it’s your call and therefore you go for a card that offers a minimum of 6 months of 0%APR intro phase. Best if you can grab those that carry 20 months or 1 year and 1/2 years of 0% intro!
• The longer this intro phase, the more is the more time you have to pay off your debts at no additional interest charges.

You may make multiple balance transfers, but make sure you are not holding onto your debt for too long:

 

I have already said earlier that the banks love to play with us. But, don’t you worry, as so can we play with them. How you might ask! Well, suppose you transfer your old card debt to a new card that has a decent 0% APR time period. We can assume that to be 1 year, for instance.

 

If you can pay off your credit card debt within this time, then well and well. Else, after 10 or 11 months, you can again remove the new card from a different bank and transfer the remaining debt to this card!

 

But this can be a dangerous game if your intentions are not to repay the debt. So, keep your head straight and only do multiple balance transfers, if you can’t pay off the debt at a single go, ethically!

 

If you do this for fun, then you will be caught in your own chains and your debt might start to accrue penalty fees, and other balance transfer fees, that many banks charge!

 

Don’t readily close your old card right after you transfer the balance:

 

This is a big mistake that many do! Once they transfer their balance onto a new card, they straightaway close their previous card. But why?! Keeping the old card with a zero balance on it is very good for your credit portfolio, more so if the card has a pretty old history.

 

So, there’s absolutely no need to close the cards if they charge no additional fees to keep them open. Moreover, before I end, all I will say is, you have many balance transfer credit cards to choose from, offered by many banks! You have full freedom to choose the card that you find the best. But make sure that your main motto always remains to pay off your debts.