You’re having a laugh with a friend when they mention that they’ve paid off their mortgage loans or that they’re finally done with college student debts. Your mood instantly turns dark as you realize your situation is the exact opposite. Knowing these types of debts can help you organize your plan how to pay them faster.
You go home, whip out your calculator, and there’s a dizzying list of numbers and figures and percentages and dollar signs. Your debts are crippling, and so are you. So how do you begin paying off these debts? Well, there are a couple of ways to arrange your debt payments in order and achieve your financial goals. Here you go:
1. Secured vs. Unsecured Debts
As you know, while signing a debt contract, there are two types of debts. The ones that have collateral against their monetary value, otherwise known as secured debts. The others are unsecured debts, against which there are no collaterals. The collateral maybe your car, your business, your stocks, or even your residential property.
So while arranging a debt repayment plan, you have to choose between secured and unsecured debts first. In secured debts, something precious to you is actually at stake. You might lose your possession if you do not pay the debt in time, so it makes sense to just clear the secured debts with whatever you can arrange.
On the other hand, your unsecured debts can become pretty troublesome if you delay them for too long. The pressure will just mount higher, and late payment may also affect your credit score.
Both are risky, and both are urgent. You just have to keep a balance between the two sets and figure out a repayment method with the least losses incurred.
2. Debts with the Highest Interest Rates
This category is also pretty crucial in figuring out which debts you have to pay back first. The debts with the highest interest rates, such as those on a credit card or a mortgage loan. Other debts, such as student loans or other personal loans, have lower interest rates, which do not accumulate as fast as the higher interest ones.
In this way, it’s usually beneficial to pay back loans in their elevating interest rate. The higher the rates, the sooner you should try to get rid of the debt. This way, you’ll be able to reduce the more significant debts quickly and will be able to focus better on the smaller ones.
3. Small Debts
Many people follow the total opposite of the highest interest rate. They use the debt snowball method by starting paying off their debts with the smallest ones right up to the largest one. This way, you can get rid of the number of debts on your credit sheet and focus much better on the larger ones. In this type of debt arrangement, you don’t have small debtors nagging you for repayments every single day, which is a great benefit in itself.
Conclusion
Debts are terrifying. They keep us up at night. However, paying debts back is not impossible. You just need the right strategy to arrange how you will pay back the different debts you have under your name. From debt, you may then start thinking about how to build your emergency fund.
Are you challenged by by debt? Reach out to Loyal Lending to see if you can turn credit card payments into one easy monthly installment.