Americans are having a tough time with credit cards right now. The average annual percentage rate (APR) for credit cards is 21.7%. At the same time, more than half of consumers use cards to make ends meet.
The combination of increasing reliance on credit cards and high interest rates pushed credit card delinquency rates (when a payment is more than 30 days past due) up to 9.1% in the third quarter of this year, according to the Federal Reserve.
I recently paid off some credit card debt, and I know how difficult it can be to tackle the problem head-on. Here are three tried-and-true strategies to do it.
1. Debt snowball method
This method has become a popular way to get out of debt, not just because it works but also because it makes it easy to stay motivated. With the debt snowball, you list your debts from smallest to largest and tackle the smallest debts first.
You ignore the interest rates and instead put as much money into the smallest debt to pay it off as soon as possible. Once it’s paid off, you move on to the next largest debt, adding what you paid on the previous card to this payment. As you move through your debt list, your payment amount “snowballs” into larger amounts, making it easier to tackle the larger debts.
Related: An emergency fund is a good first step to staying out of debt. .
Let’s say you have three credit cards with balances of $1,000, $2,000, and $3,000. You would pay as much as possible to the $1,000 balance (let’s say $200 per month) while making minimum payments on the others.
Once the $1,000 balance is gone, you would pay the $200 per month toward the $2,000 balance, plus whatever the minimum payment was. When that balance is gone, you do the same for the $3,000 balance.
2. Meet with a financial advisor
You may not want to talk with someone about your credit card debt, but meeting with a financial advisor could be one of the best ways to tackle your debt.
A good financial planner can help you develop a manageable debt payoff strategy and even help you with budgeting and other financial goals. You can find financial planners by searching on the National Association of Personal Financial Planners (NAPFA) website.
These advisors have agreed to act as fiduciaries, which means they’ve committed to acting in the best interest of their clients and not themselves.
While it may seem counterintuitive to pay someone to help you get out of debt, these fiduciaries are paid a flat fee, so you won’t be upsold on services you don’t need. Most of the time, the fees range between $100 and a few hundred dollars an hour, and you typically only need to meet with them once or twice per year.
3. Debt consolidation
Combining all of their credit card debt into one loan with a lower interest rate may be a good option for some people. With this strategy, you might apply for a debt consolidation loan with a lower interest rate than your credit cards or even use a balance transfer card with a low introductory APR.
For example, let’s say you have $8,000 in debt on a credit card with a 21.7% APR. It will take you an estimated 2.5 years to pay off that balance if you pay $350 monthly. But there are some personal loans with APRs as low as 8%, which could reduce your balance payoff time by about five months and reduce the interest paid by more than $1,700!
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Additionally, some offer 0% introductory rates for up to 21 months. You’ll usually pay a balance transfer fee of between 3% and 5%, but the upside is you’ll have a very low rate for an extended period, allowing you to potentially make significant progress toward knocking out your debt.
Tackling your credit card debt can seem overwhelming, but there are options to make it easier. Speaking with a financial advisor can help you find the right strategy, and using a debt consolidation loan may help lower your monthly payments. No matter which method you choose, picking one and sticking with it is the best way to make progress.
