Is Using A Personal Loan For Consolidating Debt An Effective Strategy?

Posted on: 8 May 2023

After using several credit cards over the past several months, have you noticed that the interest costs you a lot? Even if you're making more than the minimum payment, you may still feel it's nearly impossible to pay everything off without paying thousands more in interest over time. Although this is a common yet frustrating situation many adults find themselves in, a personal loan is one way to cut down on your debt and avoid paying too much interest throughout the years.

What Makes a Personal Loan a Feasible Solution for Dealing with Debt?

As you think about the debt you've accumulated, applying for a loan is likely the last thing on your mind. After all, you're already trying to pay your debt off, so you may have assumed that taking out a loan wouldn't be a good option. However, many people use personal loans to consolidate the debt they've collected because it allows them to pay it off early and reduce the interest they would owe.

How to Tell If a Personal Loan Is a Decent Solution for Your Debt Situation

Before taking out a personal loan, these are a few things you need to know:

  • The total amount of debt you have across all cards and loans
  • The total monthly amount for all lines of credit based solely on the minimum payments
  • Your interest rate on every card

After you've added up your debt, you know how much each monthly minimum will cost, and you have determined the interest rates for each, you can apply for a personal loan with more favorable terms. If you can get approved for a personal loan with a significantly lower interest rate and a monthly payment less than what you pay on all your credit cards, it's worth taking the loan out and using it to get your debt paid off.

As soon as you've obtained the personal loan, you can immediately pay off your credit cards and stop worrying about remembering all those different monthly payments or paying too much interest. From that point forward, you would only need to make a single payment every month on the personal loan you borrowed. And, if you happen to have extra money to put down on it because of how much you will now save from paying off your debt ahead of time, you can always do so to get that loan paid off at a faster pace.

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