Credit cards can be your best friend, or your worst enemy. Which of those two they become is entirely up you and your money management skills. Those with little to no self-control can find themselves racking up tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt. Then there are those disciplined few that can use a credit card for all the benefits and rewards, and not allow themselves to fall in the trap that is credit card debt. But for the sake of this article let’s assume that you have fallen into massive amounts of credit card debt and now you are searching for a way out. Quite simple, you need to search out credits cards with a 0% balance transfer available. Once you find yourself in debt it is important to get yourself out of it, but those nagging interest rate charges can prevent you from paying down the principal balance owed. A credit card with 0% interest will allow you to apply ALL of your money to the principal for a predetermined amount of time. Unless you find a way of making extra cash on the side, this is the quickest and easiest way to get those balances down.
Now let’s assume you have been responsible with your finances and have avoided credit card debt like the plague. Perhaps you find yourself in an emergency and need to pay out a lot of cash and quick. Times like these a credit card may be your only option, and if it’s an absolute necessity that is perfectly fine. In this case you should look into options for interest free credit cards. It’s essentially the same concept as the above, but you aren’t already carrying a balance on the card. These cards often come with longer periods of interest free purchasing, and your available balance will most likely be higher since you are starting from scratch. I’ve known many people to use this method when paying down large unexpected medical bills, and even some that have made large home improvement purchases. Many of these cards will come up with upfront bonuses, and some with monthly spending rewards to boot. Just remember to be mindful about how long your purchases will remain interest free, and make a plan to pay down the balance before that time arrives. As I always say, credit cards can be our best friends if we use them right!