*This blog post is my personal opinion only and may contain affiliate/referral links.
Being debt free is a form of financial freedom. It is also a financial peace of mind. Having no debt means you can save and use that money for other productive endevours. Start a business, pay for a course, invest on assets and many more.
Racking up debts is sometimes avoidable, but sometimes we are faced with necessary and difficult circumstances that leave us no choice but to tap into our credit card, car loan, student loan, mortgage and other small miscelleneous loans.
Being conscious of these debts is the first step of eliminating these worries, It means you must be able to track these four things so your debt free journey will be on target and systematic.
Expenses
Debts are incurred everytime you swipe that credit card on the grocery store or punch those numbers while online shopping. If you don’t already know, it all adds up and before you know it you just accumulated a mountain of credit card debts. Your bank or credit card company will usually have a record of all these expenses, but for a more conscientious tracking, it really helps if you have a visible tracker right on your fingertips.
Interest Rates
The charming yet dreaded interest rates. Credit card and other loan institution all have a disarming way of baiting you to hook on their initial interest rate offer. It is part of a ploy to get you to open an account with them. What starts as a very low interest rate will quickly balloon to the standard of more interest rate after some time, usually a year. It is very important to pay attention to your post-interest rate after the pre-interest rate offer had expired.
Due Dates
By all means this should be on your calendar already if you are paying your loans manually. The smartest thing to do, of course, is to set the payment to automatic before the due date. This is very easy to set up with your bank, all you need to do is link you bank details and schedule the payment on your loans.
Missing the payment after the due date has unfortunately a negative effect on the borrower. You will have to pay an overdue penalty and more disastrously it will impact your credit history.
Balance
As you religiously make your payment each month or more, your overall loan will noticeably decrease. A borrower should always be aware of his or her overall balance. It will not only monitor your payments but also track your debt journey progress. There’s really an added boost of motivation when you see those debts going down and ultimately being paid off.
Thank you for reading.
Jay
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