Low Interest Credit Cards - Savior or Devil?
by: WilliamBlake |
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Of course, the title is an exaggeration on both sides. Credit cards are neither your salvation nor a destroyer. They are a tool, and how you use that tool is up to you.
It can be used for the sake of convenience, for online shopping and the dozen other uses for which it was designed. Or, it can become a means of increasing your debt to absurd levels and cause you to pay painful amounts of unnecessary interest every month.
Many who let credit card debt get out of control see debt consolidation as the way out. They are often presented with a stack of offers to reduce their credit card debt by consolidating all their debt onto one credit card.
Normally these offers promise lower interest rates. However, the reality is that low interest rates are usually only a reality for people with excellent credit. The average person who is fighting to get out from under a mountain of debt does not have excellent credit and will likely not qualify.
But, they can offer a way to solve the problem over the long term. You may, in fact, be able to qualify - the only way to be sure is to apply. But even if you're accepted, there are several key items to keep in mind when considering this solution.
Consolidating onto one credit card almost never lowers your overall debt. So you haven't really improved your situation in any way. And interest compounding on such a large balance over a long period of time means higher overall interest paid back in the long run.
The interest rate is one thing to consider. But the length of time you will be paying on the debt is also a factor. A $10,000 debt at 8% will accrue more interest over 5 years than a debt with the same balance at 10% for 2 years so the overall amount you pay back on the debt with lower interest will be a great deal higher.
The culprit is compounding interest. With 8% interest over 5 years compounding interest means in reality your net interest rate paid on the balance above the principle is 21.656%. It would be 10.748% with 10% interest over 10 years.
The 8% and 10% are not the total percentage of interest. This is the annual percentage rate (APR), only the rate for a period of a year.
The benefit of the loan with a lower interest rate and longer term is that your payments are significantly lower, less than half. It may be that your circumstances make a lower payment easier to handle and that may be worth the extra money in the long run. It is easy to find on line calculators to help you amortize loans with different terms to see which is the right fit for your situation.
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Would you like to find some extra cash to help pay off your credit card bills starting today? Visit the Debt Reduction Academy website, where you can claim your free 5 day mini course "Operation Money-Find: How To Find Money To Start Paying Off Your Debt This Month". Grab your copy now at http://www.debtreductionacademy.com/minicourse.php
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