The credit card industry is incredibly competitive, and card issuers will go to great lengths to acquire new customers. One of the tools they use to do that is a balance transfer, a transaction where existing credit card debt is moved to a new card. How do credit card balance transfers work? If your credit card issuer offers balance transfers …

Paying off your car loan before the end of the loan term is enticing if you want to lower your monthly debt payments faster. But making that decision really depends on a few different factors like your current interest rate, monthly payment and if you can afford paying the final lump sum. For most people, it might be worth it. …

Payday loans are designed for people with bad credit or little credit history. These loans come with sky-high interest rates and payday lenders can be predatory. Taking out high interest loans to cover everyday expenses often launches borrowers into a cycle of deeper debt. Despite this, IBISWorld, an industry research firm, predicts that the payday loan industry will grow 5.1% …

Student loan payments can drain your monthly budget and make it more difficult to reach other financial goals, like saving money for retirement or buying a home. Thankfully, there are ways to lower your student loan payments, whether you have federal loans, private loans or a mix of both. Here are five strategies for reducing student loan payments: Change Your …

Mortgage rates increased at one of the fastest paces on record in 2022, nearly doubling within a 12-month period. At the same time, most homeowners currently have a mortgage rate below 4%, which makes a mortgage refinance an impractical choice. Experts say a refinance makes sense if you can lower your current interest rate by at least 0.75 percentage points. …

Since interest is how lenders make money, they’ll often assess fees, known as prepayment penalties, to borrowers who pay off their business loans ahead of schedule. Although prepayment penalties don’t come with all loans, it’s important to know they exist. Not only can they influence your decision to pay off your loan early, but may also impact the overall cost of …