How to Pay Off Holiday Debt

Now that the holidays have ended and your spending levels can return to normal, you may have accrued some extra debt paying for those gifts and expenses. To avoid having debt take over your finances, you’ll need to organize your debt and come up with a plan on how to pay it off.

Organize the Holiday Debt

If the debt accumulated feels overwhelming, it helps to first organize it into a list to determine the best way to pay it off. Write down each individual debt owed along with its interest rate and the minimum repayment amount. Then take the total off all the debt you owe. This will help you decide on what repayment strategy is going to work best for you.

Choose a Debt Repayment Strategy

The big question you should be asking yourself is: do you want to pay off debt faster or pay less in overall interest? Choosing what makes the most sense to you will determine which debt relief strategy is going to accomplish your goal.

The Snowball Method

The snowball method focuses on eliminating the smaller debts first, giving the debt-holder minor victories and extra motivation to keep going. This is a great method if your goal is to pay off the debt more quickly, but you may end up paying more in interest overall.

You don’t have to focus on the interest rate tied to the debt, just start with the lowest balance debt you have and work on that. Start with making the minimum payments on all the debt but make extra payments on the smallest amount of debt owed. When that debt is paid off, roll the money into the next highest debt and continue until everything is paid off.

The idea is to build up momentum as you make repayments, much like a snowball rolling down a hill.

The Avalanche Method

The avalanche method prioritizes paying off debt with the highest interest rate first. Like the snowball method, start with making the minimum payments on everything owed. Then focus on making extra payments to the debt with the highest interest rate. When that’s paid off, move on to the next highest interest rate and continue until all debt has been paid off. This method isn’t the fastest, but it helps you avoid paying more interest compared to the snowball method.

Additional Ways to Pay Off Holiday Debt

There are other ways to help pay off debt. If you find yourself struggling, it’s worth exploring additional options.

• Balance transfer credit cards: If your debt is amassed on a high-interest rate credit card, you can use a balance transfer credit card to move that credit debt to a lower-interest rate credit card, making repayments more manageable.
• Debt consolidation loans: For multiple high-interest debts, a consolidation loan is a way to combine all the debt together with a potentially lower interest rate. This can help simplify repayments.
• Cashback rewards from a credit card: If you have a rewards credit card, you’re getting a percentage of your spending back as a cash reward depending on the cash back rate which can go towards repaying debt.

Avoid Holiday Debt for Next Year

While there are strategies for tackling debt, the best situation is to avoid taking on holiday debt to begin with. For ways to do that, start putting together a budget plan early in the year to help with holiday spending.

Consolidating High-Rate Holiday Debt

If you’re looking for ways to pay off your holiday debt, Community First Credit Union has a variety of ways to help you meet your goals. Our personal loans are designed to help you consolidate high-interest debt to potentially lower your monthly payments. Talk to our Express Team today to get started.