05/10/2022
⚡️Credit Tip Tuesday ⚡️
If you have lingering credit card debt, you should work on paying it off — especially since your credit utilization rate, or the percentage of total debt you have compared to your total credit limit, is an important factor of your credit score.
🏆🏆 There are several ways you can pay off credit card debt. Here are a few options:
✅ Complete a balance transfer: By transferring your balance to a card offering an interest-free period, you can pay it off quicker and cheaper than keeping debt on a high interest card.
✅ Consolidate debt with a personal loan: Since balance transfer cards often require good or excellent credit, you may want to consider taking out a personal loan to pay off debt. Personal loans often have more accepting credit requirements and are helpful for large amounts of debt. A personal loan will help lower your credit utilization rate since it’s an installment account (which doesn’t factor into utilization), whereas credit cards are revolving accounts (that directly influence utilization).
✅ Redeem rewards: If you’ve accrued cash back, points or miles, you can redeem them for statement credits to help with some of your bill. Keep in mind that the credit you receive will likely cover only a portion of your debt, so you may need to combine this option with another, such as a balance transfer card.
📌 If you don’t have credit card debt, you should continue to pay off balances on time and in full each month. It’s also important to maintain a low credit utilization rate, preferably below 10%.