It depends on your rates. Rates of the cards each month, required minimum payments, and the rates of the personal loan you'd use to pay them off.

Consolidating can be beneficial, but you want to make sure you're not backing yourself into another corner. Can you afford the monthly payments?

Obviously- the best choice is to pay it all down as fast as you can. The longer there is debt on the card, the more it will accrue and the more the interest will build up and make it unsustainable.

3,000 sounds like a lot, but honestly you can pay it down quickly. Whatever your monthly payment is- start making it bi-weekly (Every paycheck). Eat out less, carpool when you can. Start saving money in every way you can think of and any time you've got some extra, drop it into that pool. It hurts now, but it will hurt less than having that debt constantly hanging over your shoulder, especially if something ELSE happens that you suddenly need money for.

--

Sorry that doesn't really answer the question, but it depends majorly on your location. Credit Card rates can vary immensely, as can personal loans. Also- sometimes personal loans require a down payment (Never really made sense to me), and if you can afford a down payment it would probably be smarter to put that into one of the cards and get it paid off completely.

They're essentially the same thing. The only difference between the line of credit is that you'll be able to dip into for more cash later on, where a personal loan is a fixed amount. Chances are the line of credit has more hidden fees that you'll need to be very careful with.

Again, it comes down to whatever has the lowest interest rates and what you'll be able to pay off the fastest.

Happy to help. 😄 👍

#1. I wouldn't get either. Then you have the potential to end up in more debt (credit card 1 + credit card 2 + loan).

#2. Also, what is the interest rate on your credit cards? Figure out what you are charged in interest each month and realize what that money COULD go for and you will be more prone to paying off faster.

#3. Get a little temporary side job that is part time and use the entire paycheck to pay off credit card debt.

#4. Most banks don't actually do "personal loans" or "personal lines of credit" in the traditional sense. What they do is offer you THEIR credit card with a certain amount of "personal credit" available on it. Usually to get a "line of credit," you have to have a home or something as collateral...then it's called a HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit)

#5. It might not be a bad idea to check into different banks' credit cards. Some of them might offer you a card for 0% for a certain amount of time. That will mean that you have no interest; just payments...and you can increase your payments by the amount of interest you would be paying

#6. If you DO get another credit card, think long and hard about it. I would personally advise to not get one unless you can get 0% interest for a year or more....AND....AND....AND....A NO TRANSFER FEE. Sometimes you get a card with no interest, and that can save you some money, but you might have to pay a hefty transfer fee, which defeats the purpose.

#7. IDK how personal to get here, but I also have cc debt, which I don't really see a problem with in my situation....but I just today went to a bank to open up another checking account and in opening that account, I was offered a credit card (to make the account be "fee-less.") I accepted the card, and waited to see what I was approved for. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was approved for $***XXX amount and that I was approved for a zero transfer fee and no interest for 18 months. You can bet that I'm going to transfer my older cc to that one!

#8. Even if you do get another cc, and even with your old ones....not only do you NOT have to use them (rule of thumb, but it varies...is that if your cc has a credit line of $3k or more, you have to use it quarterly to keep it open)....anyway, you CAN STILL OWE on the cards AND CLOSE THE accounts associated with them! If you get a new cc like I mentioned in #7, you can cut up the cc and never ever use it, but keep the account open a while...

#9. If you do close an account with a credit card that you still have a balance on, beware!!! Cut up the card!!! Because even though you said it's closed....the company will keep it in a status that allows you to charge on it for a certain amount of time....it's their way of drawing you back in. If you get it closed, cut it up

#10. If and when you close your cc accounts, be sure to ask for a letter that specifically says, "Closed at customer request...." This closing of the account will affect your credit score and you might have to "prove" that you closed it and that it wasn't closed by the company (bad scenario)

#11. If all else fails, call the company and ask for a lower rate or ask to be put into whatever debt program they offer. Often you can be put into a program, and all programs vary. Some will take a flat rate for x number of months (saving you interest). Some will lower the interest rate significantly, some write off a percentage of the balance if you make regular on time payments for a year, etc....

#12. If you decide to do #11 it will affect your credit score, so use it as a last resort

Also, as I said, I have cc debt too. And the amount of debt that I have right now is more significant than it's been in a long time, for various reasons; and because I know WHY I have that debt, I'm okay with it. I guess you could say that I willingly and knowingly took on the debt.

But.

I don't like it any more than anyone else likes having extra debt. But I don't want to close any of my credit cards. I have a need from time to time to significant credit.

So.

I went to my bank, where I have checking and savings, and got a FREE safety deposit box. I actually have a SDB at all the banks where I do business, and honestly, sometimes they are free....sometimes you have to have checking and savings to have them be free....sometimes you have to have a transfer each month into a savings account to have them be free....etc. Anyway, the most I've ever paid for a SDB was $5 a YEAR at one bank.

So. I made use of the SDB, and put my cc's in there. Now I don't have access to just whip one out. But I still have them open and as I pay them down, they are helping my credit score to scootch back up a bit....

So, maybe put cc's in a safe deposit box so that you don't have access so easily. The reason I say this is because I tried the "put them in a jar of water and freeze them" idea. The premise is that you have to wait for the ice to melt before you can use it. Well....you don't have to wait for more than a minute if you pour hot water over them...hahahaha. So I just got them out of my house and out of my wallet (good idea to prevent theft, too)

If you get a consolidated loan with an interest rate that is lower than your CCards- fine - do it.

Another thing is; even a loan at a higher interest rate will get you short term relief when it comes to the monthly payment. All you're doing is extending your slavery to debt....do it if you must - but they're always going to get their interest

Secondly, if you do get the loan, don't just "lose" your cards - close out the accounts completely and NEVER look back.
Listen close....being broke....is better than being in debt.
What do you intend to do once you're out of debt?

Yep. I agree. And that's how we are getting out of our current cc debt. By being "broke" for a few months. Really, really cutting back on EVERYTHING. It's tough, but worth it.

The best way I have to stay within my budget each month is to pay all bills at the beginning of the month when money comes in. I do it online, AND use a check register, so I know EXACTLY how much will be left over at the end of the month.

I then withdraw that amount of cash from the bank, split it up into what it needs to go to, and use sticky notes folded over and labeled for the cash

I pay cash for our medicine each month; for my kids to be in their activities; for fuel, groceries, and various miscellaneous things.

Example: I split up groceries in 9 day increments. So I will have a sticky note labeled "GROCERIES: 1-9" with (for example) $100 folded into it. By doing this, I try (when I'm trying to pay off cc debt) to leave a little each week to cover those last few days of the month (28/29/30/31), so that I am essentially cutting down on the total month's grocery bill.

Also, any money I budget for (example: fuel) that is left over....goes onto the credit card bill. It might be a few dollars. But don't discount the few dollars. I once paid off 20% of a house in 18 months by taking all those five dollar bills to the bank every time I had extra...before it would burn a hole in my pocket and be spent on something else. My husband used to make fun of me and said that those fives or tens or twenties didn't make a difference. He wasn't laughing when I showed him that 20% paid off....

For real! Funny how the nickels and dimes add up when you begin plugging financial drains ("small" ones especially so.)

Depends on how much you're paying each month and what you can afford, and if your bank will increase that amount over time.

My bank just added a daily charge of £4 for my overdraft, this is fu####g me up big time.
The overdraft started as charging £6 per month, that increased many times til it hit £80, now it's charging daily, so I'm screwed.

Also my CC has massively increased, so now is taking £72 per month just for interest.
There's no way of paying either off now.

You need to look into it and see if your rates will change, if they will it may be worth getting a loan to clear them as loan repayments won't change.

I can't do that now as my credit score is screwed.