About consolidating

You may even qualify for a card with a 0% rate for 12 or 18 months.

Personal loans charge simple interest (as opposed to credit cards, which often have variable rates and sometimes have different rates for a credit card balance transfer and purchases on the same card) and they typically have a loan repayment term of three to five years.

You also may not want to close your old credit cards, as this can potentially ding your credit scores as well.

By keeping your old credit cards open, you will not lower your credit utilization.

The following five tips can help you figure out which credit card consolidation strategy suits you best.

One of the first things you’ll want to do is check your credit reports for accuracy.

By consolidating your credit card debt into a personal loan, you’ll have a definite plan for paying off your old card debt.

You may be able to consolidate your debt with a personal loan from your bank or credit union.

Keep in mind a debt management plan may have a negative impact on your credit during the course of the program because your creditors will close or suspend your accounts while in the program, and this can affect your credit utilization.

If you’re making little to no progress repaying or transferring balances or consider yourself to have a severe debt problem, then you may want to reach out to a reputable credit counseling agency or debt consolidation company.

They can talk to you about a With a debt management plan, you make one monthly payment to a credit counseling agency, and the agency pays each of your credit card lenders.

A lender may lower the interest rate on your credit card balance when you participate in a debt management plan.

Debt management plans typically last three to five years.

An error on any of your credit reports could prevent you from qualifying for the debt consolidation help you need, so You can get your free annual credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies — Trans Union, Equifax, and Experian.