You have $18,100 in non-mortgage debt. If you were a homeowner between 1999 and 2016 that’s what Statistics Canada discovered in a recent study the performed. The details released in April this year that the average homeowner household has this amount of non-mortgage debt. Additionally, families who had good feelings about the future were more likely to spend more money and take on more debt compared to families who had felt neutral or negative about the future. Specifically, families with positive sentiments about the future had an average of $6,800 more non-mortgage debt than other families.
Consolidation
When you know more money than usual is on its way to you its only natural to want to start spending it before it arrives. The trouble with this kind of behaviour is that you can end up spending more than you receive, or the money you expected to arrive never does. If this happens you’ll end up with a wad of debt you’re not prepared to take on. Anyone whose missed a credit card payment or had to deal with high interest rates knows how painful this can be.
If you’ve found yourself in a position where you’re struggling to pay off credit card debt, you’re not alone. If you’re ready to tackle this issue head on its time to consider debt consolidation. This is when you lump all your debt together using a consolidation tool like a line of credit, a home equity line of credit (HELOC), or a low interest or balance transfer credit card. Each of these options has much lower interest rates compared to regular credit cards which typically run at about 19.99% interest. When you consolidate you no longer have to worry about juggling multiple debt payments or trying to figure out which one to pay off first. In addition, you’ll be able to increase your payments or make extra payments without any penalties.
Stick it out
Once you’ve chosen the consolidation tool you want to work with you’ll be able to make payments that hit more of the balance than the interest. The trick will be to stay on track and not get sucked into the temptation to spend any newly available credit. If you know you’re likely to do this then you should consider cancelling your credit card or lowering your limit. This will enable you to keep paying down your debt without the worry of added debt. If you really want to make sure you’re staying on track you should write out your repayment plan and put it up somewhere you’ll see it on a regular basis. The daily reminder of your goal to get debt free will help you to stay on target.
Paying off your debt is only the first part of the process. Next you need to figure out how and why you ended up in this much debt to begin with. Once you can answer and solve that problem you’ll be better able to stay out of debt in the future and avoid this scenario.
To find out which debt consolidation tool works best for you contact us today.
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