Getting a handle on your debts and keeping them under control is extremely important. With limited income and increased medical expenses, your debts can quickly spiral out of control and potentially lead to bankruptcy. Before this happens, try applying the following debt management tips:
- Identify your debt. Determine your current debt situation. To help with this, we provide a calculator to figure out how much you owe.
- Establish a credit card payment strategy. If you have credit card debts, your goal should be to pay off high interest credit cards or consolidate them to save on interest charges. To help illustrate how you can roll down your credit card debt, try our Credit Card Roll Down calculator.
- Consolidate your debt. This will make it easier to keep track of your debt and, ideally, lower your interest rates. We also provide a Personal Debt Consolidation calculator for your use.
If you own your own home, it may be possible for you to get out from under high interest credit card payments by consolidating your debt into your mortgage. To see the potential savings available, use our Mortgage Debt Consolidation calculator.
- Refinance your mortgage. If you own your home and are paying a high interest rate, refinancing your mortgage may result in lower monthly payments. The general rule of thumb is that you should refinance your mortgage when you can improve your current interest rate by at least two percentage points. To help you see the potential savings, plug in your mortgage figures into our Refinance Interest Savings calculator.