Bill consolidation – How helpful it is
May 7, 2010 by admin
Filed under Loans and Financing
The aim of bill consolidation is to lower all of your interest rates by 5% and consolidate all of your payments into one payment per month. If you consolidate your bills into fewer payments then you can save both time and money. You can reduce the number of bills through balance transfers, debt consolidation. The types of bills that can be consolidated into one payment are: retail card bills, credit card bills, medical bills, utility bills, etc.
How to consolidate your bills?
The steps by which you can consolidate your bills are given below:
Eliminate the unnecessary credit cards: It is advisable to carry between 2 and 6 credit cards. You can close your newest accounts to maintain the good credit history. You should transfer balances to a low rate card.
Store charge cards: It is advisable that you carry only one store charge cards as these cards have high interest rates. It will reduce the bills you pay each month. Don’t open new charge accounts.
Cell phone bills: You should switch to a family plan so that you have to pay only one bill each month. You will save money by this way.
Make cash payments: Cash payments eliminate the bills that show up a month later. Sometimes retailers give discounts if you pay in cash. Thereby you can save money in this process.
Make large chunk payments: If you can afford, pay in large chunks (car insurance). This will make you eligible for a discount as well.
Online auto-payments: Generally banks have an online bill pay option. This means it will automatically deduct regular expenses from your savings account or credit card account. You should set up an automatic payment for other bills, and link them to a bank account.
Debt Consolidation: Debt consolidation helps in bill consolidation. You can consolidate everything (medical bills, utility bills) into one loan. It is a huge loan that will pay-off your other smaller bills and loans. You will have to make single monthly payment only.
Extend due dates: Negotiate with the creditors in order to change your due date. If you can make the due dates fall as closely together as possible then it will be easier for you to pay the multiple bills at the same time.
Finally, multiple accounts for movie rentals, department stores should be closed. If you work out these steps then bill consolidation can be done easily.