Paying Off High Interest Rates
Is it a good idea to take out a loan to pay off other loans? If you have the intentions of paying off a higher interest rate loan with one that you can obtain with a lower interest rate than the answer is yes. You must make sure that there will not be any penalties for paying the first loan off early to make it cost effective.
When you took out the first loan there are conditions that you are going to want to review before you pay off the balance. Many companies will charge penalties for paying off the loan before the terms of the loan end. This insures that they will be making the money on the interest of the loan that they expected to make. If you have this clause tied to your original loan than you must make sure that you will actually be saving money by paying it off with another loan at a lower interest rate.
If you do not have the clause tied to the original loan then it is definitely a good choice to obtain the loan with the lower interest rate. You just have to make sure that you use that money for that purpose and don’t end up carrying to loans when you only intended on having one. This will also help your credit rating as the first loan has been paid off, but you still are developing credit by having the second loan still outstanding.
This is also common practice when it comes to credit cards. There are always offers to transfer balances from one credit card with a higher interest rate to another with a lower one or even no interest for a small amount of time. Be sure there are no transfer fees tied to this action or you may be paying more in the long run. Also make sure that you can pay off the balance on the card before your initial lower interest rate expires, usually a year. Otherwise you may not be saving any money.
Transferring balances and paying off loans can be a smart way to save money and build some credit history. When you transfer credit card balances, make sure you do not cancel the first credit card as long as it does not have an annual fee. Keeping the account open will build your credit; just make sure you don’t use the card unless you absolutely have to. Lower interest rates are the way to go, just make sure you are saving money in the long run.
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