Christmas credit card bills arrived yet?
January 13, 2010
It’s become something of a tradition: spend too much at Christmas, put it all on the plastic, then clutch up when the bills arrive and resolve never to do it again—at least not until next Christmas.
In 2006, Australians spent $32.85 billion over Christmas. In 2007, that rose to $36.5 billion. In 2008, it was $37.0 billion, and in 2009, $38.7 billion.
We’re not learning.
If the Christmas bills have started arriving and it’s clutch-up time, relax. There are ways to handle this, and one of the best means of doing so is with a balance transfer credit card.
The average Australian credit card carries an interest rate of 11.49% to 19.99% and beyond. Balance transfer credit cards offer much lower rates for a limited amount of time, some as low as 0% for 6 months or 1.9% for 12, giving debtors a chance to pay off the loan’s principal.
“You can be paying 18 or 19 per cent on an ordinary credit card but there’s a lot of low interest rates out there to transfer to, some as low as 3 or 4 per cent,” said Brontie Chambers of Community CPS Australia. “That’s an enormous saving.”
Websites such as credit card offers supply handy side-by-side comparisons of various credit cards, and even include links to online applications.
Another popular option for vanishing Christmas debt is to roll it over into the mortgage. However, if a bit extra isn’t included in the next few months’ payments, it’s possible you could spend the next ten, twenty, or even thirty years paying off Christmas 2009.
Before jumping headfirst into a lower interest rate card, it’s important to first make a budget. Until you know how much you can afford to put into repayments each month, you won’t know how many months of low interest rates are necessary to discharge the debt, and after the introductory period is over, some balance transfer credit cards raise the interest rate significantly.
If the introductory period is all the time needed, a balance transfer credit card is generally a better option, with a lower interest rate, than a personal loan. Besides, if you decide to keep the card after the principal is paid off, you’ve got another spending aid for Christmas 2010.
Source: news.com.au
Christmas bills arrived yet?
It’s become something of a tradition: spend too much at Christmas, put it all on the plastic, then clutch up when the bills arrive and resolve never to do it again—at least not until next Christmas.
In 2006, Australians spent $32.85 billion over Christmas. In 2007, that rose to $36.5 billion. In 2008, it was $37.0 billion, and in 2009, $38.7 billion.
We’re not learning.
If the Christmas bills have started arriving and it’s clutch-up time, relax. There are ways to handle this, and one of the best means of doing so is with a balance transfer credit card.
The average Australian credit card carries an interest rate of 11.49% to 19.99% and beyond. Balance transfer credit cards offer much lower rates for a limited amount of time, some as low as 0.0% for six months, giving debtors a chance to pay off the loan’s principal.
“You can be paying 18 or 19 per cent on an ordinary credit card but there’s a lot of low interest rates out there to transfer to, some as low as 3 or 4 per cent,” said Brontie Chambers of Community CPS Australia. “That’s an enormous saving.”
Websites such as http://www.creditcardapplication.com.au/ offer handy side-by-side comparisons of various credit cards, and even include links to online applications.
Another popular option for vanishing Christmas debt is to roll it over into the mortgage. However, if a bit extra isn’t included in the next few months’ payments, it’s possible you could spend the next ten, twenty, or even thirty years paying off Christmas 2009.
Before jumping headfirst into a lower interest rate card, it’s important to first make a budget. Until you know how much you can afford to put into repayments each month, you won’t know how many months of low interest rates are necessary to discharge the debt, and after the introductory period is over, some balance transfer credit cards raise the interest rate significantly.
If the introductory period is all the time needed, a balance transfer credit card is generally a better option, with a lower interest rate, than a personal loan. Besides, if you decide to keep the card after the principal is paid off, you’ve got another spending aid for Christmas 2010.
