If there’s one thing more depressing than returning to work after the festive break, it’s the pile of bills that arrivews shortly after.
Christmas is undoubtedly a wonderful time of the year, but it is also extremely expensive.
With the holidays now over, we’re all faced with the unappealing prospect of paying off the resultant credit card debt.
Get your balance transfer card
The cheapest and fastest way to do this is to switch your debt immediately to a 0% balance transfer credit card.
Do this and you’ll avoid racking up any further interest - with the average APR now well over 17%, this will happen faster than you think.
Currently the best balance transfer card on the market is Virgin Money’s credit card, which offers 16 months interest free, with a 2.98% fee.
Switching credit cards is extremely easy to do online and the savings will be significant, so it’s hardly surprising that it has become so popular: Brits are expected to transfer an estimated £7 billion in the first quarter of 2009 alone in order to benefit from cheaper credit card offerings.
Not an invitation to defer repayments
While balance transfers are a great way to avoid costly interest, they should not be seen as an invitation to put off repaying your debts.
Recent research found that some 4.5 million adults still have not paid off their credit card debts from a year ago.
Make sure you pay off the maximum amount possible each month in order to avoid your credit card debt mounting up year on year.
If you are struggling to find the extra cash, take the time to draw up a detailed budget and identify areas where you can trim the fat from your monthly outlays.
