Personal Loans
Applying for a personal loan with online lenders, credit unions, or banks can be an excellent way to settle your credit card debt. Personal loans tend to have the lowest rates. You can choose among different loan options depending on whether you want a secured or unsecured personal loan, how much money you need to pay off your debt, and how soon you can pay it back.
To consider you for a personal loan, lenders will usually do what’s called a “soft credit check,” which is a way for them to review your credit history without affecting your credit score. This allows them to evaluate whether you’re a trustworthy borrower. If you want to have a good credit history in the future but afraid that your application can be denied, a soft credit check loan can become a great option.
If approved for a credit card consolidation loan, you’ll likely have a longer amount of time to repay the loan than you would for each individual credit card. A debt consolidation loan can help you lower your monthly payment by allowing you to repay the existing debt over the extended loan term. Just be sure to review the terms and conditions, as there may be additional fees included other than the interest rate, for example, origination fees.
Working with a nonprofit credit counseling organization
Nonprofit credit counseling organizations offer you financial advice and help create a plan to pay off your debts. After being approved to work with a credit counseling organization, they will evaluate your debts and negotiate with your creditors to lower your monthly payments and create a plan for paying off the debt.
Occasionally, a nonprofit may advocate for a lowered interest rate in your favor while consolidating debt and help you repay the debt faster, or have your monthly payments decreased. The credit counseling organization may ask you to close the current credit cards that you have open, in order to avoid additional charges and debt.
Balance transfer credit card
Balance transfer cards are ones that allow you to transfer the balances from all your other credit cards onto the new card. They usually offer introductory deals where you don’t pay interest for up to a year or more. However, depending on the card and the specific deal, you may have to pay other fees to open one. You’ll also want to make sure that the card you’re opening will have a high enough limit to transfer all your debts onto it.