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The Upgrade credit card consolidation personal loan

Use Upgrade Credit Card Debt Consolidation Personal Loan and KICK CREDIT CARD DEBT TO THE CURB! Upgrade would love the privilege of consolidating all your other unsecured debt including your credit card debts. After all, if you are consistently making your payments, they would love to be the ones to earn interest off your debts. And, truth be told, Upgrade might be a good option for doing just that, but there are two things you need to make sure of before you take Upgrade up on their offer. 

The APR of the credit card consolidation loan must be lower than what you have now

The first thing you’ve got to do is make sure you are getting a better APR. It’s not good enough for Upgrade to match the interest rate you are paying your other creditors. If you aren’t going to get a better interest rate, don’t consolidate. It’s as easy as that. The rule of thumb I like is that you should get an APR of 2-3 percentage points lower than your current interest rate to make consolidating worthwhile. Upgrade currently offers rates between 8.49% and 35.99%. 

And, if you can drop your effective interest rate, you could save a lot of money over the next few years. Of course, consolidating can simplify your life, too. Instead of several payments a month, you can have just one. And often that single payment is lower than what you have been paying. This is because the interest rate is lower or the loan term is longer. Sometimes it’s both. Consolidating your debt can really help you breathe a little easier. But that’s not the whole story. The powerful way to use debt consolidation to achieve a debt-free life is this:

REDUCE YOUR INTEREST PAYMENT WITH AN UPGRADE DEBT CONSOLIDATION FOR YOUR CREDIT CARDS.  BUT DON’T REDUCE YOUR PAYMENT.  THIS WILL GET YOU OUT OF DEBT QUICKER!

Here’s why this is so important.

While a lower payment might feel like a weight off your shoulders in the short term, dropping that monthly payment may not be the smartest move for your financial future. If you can swing it, you should do everything in your power to keep your monthly payment the same (or even bump it up a notch) after consolidating your debt.

By keeping your payment the same or increasing it, you’ll be putting more money towards your principal balance each month. That means getting out of debt faster and saving yourself a ton of money on interest in the process. Even a small increase in your monthly payment can make a world of difference in the grand scheme of things.

How an Upgrade Credit Card Consolidation Personal Loan works

Here’s an example of how this works. It’s especially important in the first few months of getting a new loan.

You might think that making an extra $100 payment in the twelfth month of your loan is the same as if you did it in the second month of the loan. $100 is $100, right? Actually, no. Consolidation loans are amortized which means that they are designed to keep a consistent payment every month from the beginning to the end. That payment is made up of two things: the interest expense and the principal payment. The interest is just a calculation based on the total outstanding balance. Therefore, the first payments are mostly just paying interest because that’s when your outstanding principal is at its highest point. 

An extra principal payment at the beginning of your loan term will save you money on interest for the rest of the time you are in debt. Depending on the interest rate of the loan and the length of the term, an extra $100 payment in the first months of your loan term could be worth more than $150.

Get the best APR you can

Making extra principal payments can make a huge difference in the speed at which you make progress. But first you have to get a consolidation loan with the lowest possible interest rate. That’s why you should always shop around. The only way to be sure that Upgrade is offering you the best APR is to get at least 2-3 offers in hand before you sign a loan agreement. At The Yukon Project, we’ve tried to make shopping around easy. If you go to our marketplace page, you can apply directly to Upgrade, but behind the scenes, we will check your rate with up to 40 other lenders. Applying won’t affect your credit score and we will present you with all the offers, so you can decide the best loan for you. 

Use Upgrade Credit Card Debt Consolidation

To sum up: the two things you have to do before you consolidate your debt is to get a lower interest rate and make extra principal payments, especially early in the life of the loan. Pay less interest and get out of debt faster. That’s the plan!

STOP PAYING THE HIGH INTEREST RATES FROM CARRYING A MONTHLY BALANCE ON YOUR CREDIT CARD!

Soft Credit Pull, Up To 40 Lenders at Once, See what you’re approved for!

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Jonathan Walker