Choosing credit cards for debt consolidation

The use of credit cards for debt consolidation is an emerging trend among UK consumers. Recent research by Capital One suggests that 7 million people holding multiple cards are likely to be financially better off if they were to consolidate their debt. This they could do by opting to transfer their outstanding balance to one of the many 'low-rate' cards available and/or by re-structuring their debt with the card company.

The advantages to credit cards users electing to consolidate their debts are numerous. To start with, consumers will no longer have to juggle their finances to meet several different repayment dates across multiple credit cards. Instead, consumers would make only a single repayment each month on their debt to just one creditor.

The second (and most notable) advantage is that consumers have the opportunity to reduce their monthly repayments down to a level that is manageable. This obviously has knock on benefits, the debt becoming less of a worry for consumers, allowing them to get on with their everyday lives in peace.

How to consolidate debt

Consolidating debt by choosing low-rate credit cards is not difficult or complicated to initiate. The process is in fact very straightforward. Here is a guide to debt consolidation via low-rate cards.

Step #1

Your first step to dissolving your worries about debt on credit cards is to visit a credit cards comparison web site. These are Internet sites where the key features of credit cards are compared. Card companies divulge all of the critical information that you need to know about their products on these sites. This makes it easy for you to select the right type of card on which you can consolidate your debt.

Step #2

Next, look for credit cards that offer free balance transfers. Make sure though that transfers from other credit cards really are 'free'. For instance, some credit cards companies may allow only one transfer from other credit cards to be made free of charge. If you are consolidating debt from several cards this could end up costing you.

Step #3

The best credit card for use in debt consolidation are credit cards that offer a free interest period on the transferred balance. Normally advertised on literature as "0% on balance transfers", your consolidated debt may, depending upon the card chosen, escape interest charges for up to 9 consecutive months after the transfer is made.

Step #4

The final step in the selection of credit cards for debt consolidation is to ensure that the card chosen has a low standard APR rate. The standard APR dictates the interest rate to be applied to outstanding balances once all introductory offers expire. To keep repayments on your credit cards to a minimum, a low APR is essential.

1. Compare Credit Cards UK - UK Credit card portal -
2. Credit Cards at CreditWWW.com
   Credit card directory and application links sorted for all credit histories. -
3. UK Credit Cards
   UK Credit Card offers and low rate balance transfer cards.