SECURITY CENTER
COLUMNIST / BLOGS
TOOLS
PODCASTS/VIDEOS
How To Invest and Save Money
Britt Erica Tunick is an award winning financial journalist who has spent the past 17 years writing about virtually every aspect of finance. She has mastered the art of boiling down complicated financial topics for readers to understand. |
Take a hold of your debt and begin to manage it responsibly. Utilize strategies such as budgeting, refinancing, and account transfers for a lower interest rate. Maintaining a good credit rating is essential should you need a personal or business loan down the road. It is best to start now and begin How to Start Managing Your Debt By Britt Erica Tunick Racking up debt is a part of the American way of life as evidenced by the fact that the U.S. national debt was estimated to have reached a whopping $21.7 trillion as of the end of 2015. Unfortunately for those of us outside of Congress, ignoring our debt and simply continuing to amass more of it is not only unwise, it can lead to everything from the foreclosure of a home, to the repossession of big ticket items and even bankruptcy. So if you have gotten yourself into significant debt, and the odds are good according to Nerdwallet’s 2015 American Household Credit Card Debt Study, it is never too soon to start working your way out of it. According to Nerdwallet’s latest findings, the average American household has total debt of $129,576, of which about $15,355 alone is credit card debt. If you fall within that group, the first thing you should do is sit down and tally the total amount you owe, along with the amount of time you have to repay each individual debt and any interest or fees you will face until it is repaid. Since all debt is not created equally, the best thing you can do is to start chipping away at things such as credit card debt, which tends to carry higher interest rates than things like mortgage loans and can rapidly reach unmanageable amounts if ignored. If your credit card debt is spread across multiple cards, check to see if you qualify for any of the zero percent interest rate balance transfer offers frequently advertised by card issuers. Just be sure to read the fine print before signing up for any such offers, as you don’t make things worse by agreeing to a repayment timeframe you cannot possibly meet, and which could potentially leave you facing higher interest rates than you started with. When it comes to your other bills, be sure to make your payments on time each month even in you can only make the minimum payment. Failing to make timely payment can lead to late fees and can potentially damage your overall credit rating. Even if you have a large sum that you are trying to pay down on one or two credit cards, it is important to keep a good standing with any other cards you have. One way to make sure you never miss payments is to create a monthly calendar that will remind you when the payment for each card or account is due. |
Archive |