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  #1  
Old June 16, 2017, 09:30 PM
Dien Rice Dien Rice is offline
Onwards and upwards!
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,421
Default How to reduce your credit card interest rate payments...

Many people are struggling with the burden of debt... Credit card debt in particular is quite expensive, where you can pay from 14% to 25% per year in interest...

For example, the average credit card debt per household in the USA, for those that have credit card debt, is $16,048.

At the average variable credit card rate of 16.1%, that means these households are paying $2,600 per year in interest rates! For those paying the maximum credit card interest rate - around 25% - they're paying around $4,000 per year in interest!

That's pretty significant...

However...

I've recently been looking into peer-to-peer loans...

Peer-to-peer loans are non-bank loans, where you are borrowing money from investors. They invest because they can get a much better return than they can from putting their money in a bank account. In return, they can often give you much better rates than a bank can, as well. It cuts out the middle-man!

In the USA, you can get peer-to-peer loans from as low as 7% (including the initial fees), and they go up from there. (Sometimes quite high.) What rate you get depends on the peer-to-peer loans company you are with, as well as your credit score.

Here's a list of peer-to-peer loan companies in the USA...

http://peerfinance101.com/list-peer-...e-loans-sites/

(You can easily find similar lists for other countries if you search online...)

If you have high-interest-rate debt (such as credit card debt), it makes sense to refinance it with lower interest rate debt... So, if this is the case with you, check this out as a possibility!

By the way, it's a good idea, once you pay off your credit card with a lower interest rate loan, to at least reduce your credit card limit! That will help prevent you from increasing your debt further!

By the way, why am I writing about this?

It turns out that the rate of starting businesses in the USA has declined... Many people have fingered the big culprit to be debt. The main debt which has increased dramatically in the last 20 years or so is student debt... Students leave college now with astronomical debts compared to the past.

The reasoning is that people with large debts will take fewer risks... And this hurts entrepreneurship, which has risk. People still love entrepreneurship - that's why TV shows like Shark Tank and Silicon Valley have done so well. But the idea is that higher levels of personal debt have made people less willing to take risks than the past...!

So... In my opinion, we gotta solve that problem, somehow...

Any other advice you know of, or which has worked for you? (I need to reduce my own credit card debt as well...)

Best wishes,

Dien
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  #2  
Old June 19, 2017, 10:34 AM
sandalwood
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: How to reduce your credit card interest rate payments...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dien Rice View Post
Many people are struggling with the burden of debt... Credit card debt in particular is quite expensive, where you can pay from 14% to 25% per year in interest...

For example, the average credit card debt per household in the USA, for those that have credit card debt, is $16,048.

At the average variable credit card rate of 16.1%, that means these households are paying $2,600 per year in interest rates! For those paying the maximum credit card interest rate - around 25% - they're paying around $4,000 per year in interest!

That's pretty significant...

However...

I've recently been looking into peer-to-peer loans...

Peer-to-peer loans are non-bank loans, where you are borrowing money from investors. They invest because they can get a much better return than they can from putting their money in a bank account. In return, they can often give you much better rates than a bank can, as well. It cuts out the middle-man!

In the USA, you can get peer-to-peer loans from as low as 7% (including the initial fees), and they go up from there. (Sometimes quite high.) What rate you get depends on the peer-to-peer loans company you are with, as well as your credit score.

Here's a list of peer-to-peer loan companies in the USA...

http://peerfinance101.com/list-peer-...e-loans-sites/

(You can easily find similar lists for other countries if you search online...)

If you have high-interest-rate debt (such as credit card debt), it makes sense to refinance it with lower interest rate debt... So, if this is the case with you, check this out as a possibility!

By the way, it's a good idea, once you pay off your credit card with a lower interest rate loan, to at least reduce your credit card limit! That will help prevent you from increasing your debt further!

By the way, why am I writing about this?

It turns out that the rate of starting businesses in the USA has declined... Many people have fingered the big culprit to be debt. The main debt which has increased dramatically in the last 20 years or so is student debt... Students leave college now with astronomical debts compared to the past.

The reasoning is that people with large debts will take fewer risks... And this hurts entrepreneurship, which has risk. People still love entrepreneurship - that's why TV shows like Shark Tank and Silicon Valley have done so well. But the idea is that higher levels of personal debt have made people less willing to take risks than the past...!

So... In my opinion, we gotta solve that problem, somehow...

Any other advice you know of, or which has worked for you? (I need to reduce my own credit card debt as well...)

Best wishes,

Dien

Great topic. Thanks for starting the thread. Here is what I did with a debt I inherited (long story so I'll spare that part). I was paying interest on that debt until my brain moved from frozen to thinking. I transferred the balance via an interest free offer from a credit card. It also was fee free.

When the no interest charge period expired I again transferred the remaining balance to another credit card. This time I had to pay a transfer fee which was not welcome but was a hell of a lot less than the interest I would have charged had I not made the transfer.

This month I will write a check for the balance and be free from the debt. Ordinarily I always pay the balance in full before the due date. This was an unusual family circumstance. Regardless, the lesson is pay attention to the credit card transfer offers currently being touted. Several super large organizations are offering interest free balance transfers that allow up to 18 months to repay. If you can arrange your payments accordingly you won't pay a dime in interest. That is a great deal.
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  #3  
Old June 19, 2017, 02:19 PM
Dien Rice Dien Rice is offline
Onwards and upwards!
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,421
Default Thanks Tom... That's a brilliant idea! :)

Quote:
Originally Posted by sandalwood View Post
Great topic. Thanks for starting the thread. Here is what I did with a debt I inherited (long story so I'll spare that part). I was paying interest on that debt until my brain moved from frozen to thinking. I transferred the balance via an interest free offer from a credit card. It also was fee free.

When the no interest charge period expired I again transferred the remaining balance to another credit card. This time I had to pay a transfer fee which was not welcome but was a hell of a lot less than the interest I would have charged had I not made the transfer.

This month I will write a check for the balance and be free from the debt. Ordinarily I always pay the balance in full before the due date. This was an unusual family circumstance. Regardless, the lesson is pay attention to the credit card transfer offers currently being touted. Several super large organizations are offering interest free balance transfers that allow up to 18 months to repay. If you can arrange your payments accordingly you won't pay a dime in interest. That is a great deal.
Tom, that is a brilliant idea!

Thanks for sharing it... I hadn't thought of that!

I do have a bit of credit card debt... I'll look into moving it on to a card with an interest free deal.

I like it...

Best wishes,

Dien
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  #4  
Old June 20, 2017, 03:40 AM
MMacGillivray's Avatar
MMacGillivray MMacGillivray is offline
Eternal Optimist
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Helensburgh, Argyll
Posts: 243
Default Re: How to reduce your credit card interest rate payments...

My accountant also does this in the UK - she looks at all the deals and the benefits offered by the banks and virtually hawks her money round about to get better interest, travel insurance deals - anything that helps make her money go further.

Margaret
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  #5  
Old June 22, 2017, 07:21 AM
Dien Rice Dien Rice is offline
Onwards and upwards!
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,421
Default Thanks Margaret... That's great advice!

Quote:
Originally Posted by MMacGillivray View Post
My accountant also does this in the UK - she looks at all the deals and the benefits offered by the banks and virtually hawks her money round about to get better interest, travel insurance deals - anything that helps make her money go further.
Hi Margaret,

I think that's a great idea! It's lucky I have people like you and Tom around to enlighten me with these great ideas... I've started hunting around for initially zero-interest credit cards myself (and they're around where I live too)... I see that it's kind of a no-brainer to move everything over to one of those...

Thanks again...!

Best wishes,

Dien
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  #6  
Old June 22, 2017, 07:42 AM
MMacGillivray's Avatar
MMacGillivray MMacGillivray is offline
Eternal Optimist
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Helensburgh, Argyll
Posts: 243
Wink I didn't think I had listened to my mother, BUT

Hi, Dien - here's another wee thought.

The power of Amazon Prime - I wrote this on my FB page. We sell in the Amazon marketplace and sometimes it's just impossible to beat the big boys at their own game. However, the consumer in me knows that customers are spending more than necessary, just because of the skill of the Amazon branding team :O
"So, when is Amazon Prime not so prime?? Well, we've been selling on Amazon for a few years now and, like other big companies, Amazon keeps changing the goalposts. For merchants like us, it used to be that you could price your products a few pence cheaper than the Amazon Prime price and your product would get the "Buy Box" - in other words, our inventory would show up for you to buy.

Nowadays, though - Amazon have changed the way this works. For instance -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/RHS-Foliage...iage+tea+towel...

This shows the Amazon Prime product (and there are two listings at the same price of £8.95) and when one seller runs out of inventory, then the other one will be visible for you to make your purchase.

We have the same product listed at £7.99 (delivered free in the UK) - which is a significant saving.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-li...&condition=new...

So, when you are making your purchases, you are actually paying 96p more for your item and I believe we would match most delivery conditions. The only service we don't offer is Same Day Delivery.

This isn't a one-off .... there are probably loads of products on Amazon Prime which are more expensive than merchant supplied inventory.

We don't get a free ride on Amazon, either. Merchants pay a monthly subscription and a fee per item sold!"
So, by planning ahead and checking pricing really carefully on Amazon, you can save more money .... money in the bank, really.

My mother would be shocked

Margaret

Last edited by MMacGillivray : June 22, 2017 at 07:53 AM. Reason: links didn't work
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  #7  
Old June 22, 2017, 01:53 PM
SecretAgentMan
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: How to reduce your credit card interest rate payments...

It is a great idea to try to save money on interest payments and other routine payments.

There is a guy who owns a website/book called "I will teach you to be rich" (.com) who talks a lot about calling your service provider companies and asking them for lower rates.

In many cases, with credit cards, you can get the introductory rate again for future purchases, so if you are still using your credit cards then you can get a 0% offer for the next 12 months and things like that if you call.

You can also do the same with cell phone service providers, which is even more effective, to get another introductory offer will save you hundreds of dollars in most cases.

I thought this fit in!
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  #8  
Old June 26, 2017, 06:08 PM
Dien Rice Dien Rice is offline
Onwards and upwards!
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,421
Default Thanks for the great tip...! :)

Quote:
Originally Posted by SecretAgentMan View Post
It is a great idea to try to save money on interest payments and other routine payments.

There is a guy who owns a website/book called "I will teach you to be rich" (.com) who talks a lot about calling your service provider companies and asking them for lower rates.

In many cases, with credit cards, you can get the introductory rate again for future purchases, so if you are still using your credit cards then you can get a 0% offer for the next 12 months and things like that if you call.

You can also do the same with cell phone service providers, which is even more effective, to get another introductory offer will save you hundreds of dollars in most cases.

I thought this fit in!
Thanks - that's definitely a great tip!

I can see I'm generally not making the best use of my money sometimes...!

Best wishes!

Dien
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  #9  
Old June 24, 2017, 10:19 PM
Dien Rice Dien Rice is offline
Onwards and upwards!
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,421
Default Thanks for the money-saving tip, Margaret!

Quote:
Originally Posted by MMacGillivray View Post
Hi, Dien - here's another wee thought.

The power of Amazon Prime - I wrote this on my FB page. We sell in the Amazon marketplace and sometimes it's just impossible to beat the big boys at their own game. However, the consumer in me knows that customers are spending more than necessary, just because of the skill of the Amazon branding team :O
"So, when is Amazon Prime not so prime?? Well, we've been selling on Amazon for a few years now and, like other big companies, Amazon keeps changing the goalposts. For merchants like us, it used to be that you could price your products a few pence cheaper than the Amazon Prime price and your product would get the "Buy Box" - in other words, our inventory would show up for you to buy.

Nowadays, though - Amazon have changed the way this works. For instance -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/RHS-Foliage...iage+tea+towel...

This shows the Amazon Prime product (and there are two listings at the same price of £8.95) and when one seller runs out of inventory, then the other one will be visible for you to make your purchase.

We have the same product listed at £7.99 (delivered free in the UK) - which is a significant saving.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-li...&condition=new...

So, when you are making your purchases, you are actually paying 96p more for your item and I believe we would match most delivery conditions. The only service we don't offer is Same Day Delivery.

This isn't a one-off .... there are probably loads of products on Amazon Prime which are more expensive than merchant supplied inventory.

We don't get a free ride on Amazon, either. Merchants pay a monthly subscription and a fee per item sold!"
So, by planning ahead and checking pricing really carefully on Amazon, you can save more money .... money in the bank, really.

My mother would be shocked

Margaret
Hi Margaret,

Thanks for the "heads up" on how Amazon works!

I've noticed, pretty much all these big companies change the "goal posts" once they have what they want...

My feeling is - use them for your own use, but it's best not to depend on one company for all of your business! (So that, when they change things, you're not left in the lurch...) I've known people who were dependent on one sales channel - and their whole business collapsed when things changed...

And thanks for the money-saving tip on Amazon! You're probably right, people probably assume that what they see first is the "best deal" - because that's how it used to work! Now we know to look a bit harder...

Best wishes,

Dien

P.S. Be sure to visit Margaret's online store for some cool Scottish gifts and great jewelry! https://www.macgillivrays.co.uk
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  #10  
Old July 1, 2017, 09:37 AM
MMacGillivray's Avatar
MMacGillivray MMacGillivray is offline
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Default Re: Thanks for the money-saving tip, Margaret!

Thanks, Dien
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