Chicago Bankruptcy Attorneys Or Debt Consolidation, Which To Choose

I love to watch afternoon TV in Chicago. It is pretty much nothing more than court and judge shows like the People’s Court. But what I love more are all the commercials they show during those TV shows. There are adds for Chicago Immigration Attorneys, Chicago Divorce Attorneys, Chicago DUI Attorneys, but mostly, adds for Chicago Bankruptcy Attorneys. So let’s talk about that last one: bankruptcy and credit card debt. Should you consolidate your debt to escape bankruptcy?

Well, some would say the first step towards addressing the problem of credit card debt is to consolidate. Now, what do you do to consolidate credit card debt? Should you just go with that attractive ad in the newspaper, or trust that direct mail marketing piece?

The first thing, really, is to keep your eyes and ears open. There are always a number of offers available for you to choose from. The credit banks keep coming with new and more attractive offers asking you to consolidate credit card debt with them. However, you must note that the APR quoted in bold, e.g. 0% APR, is applicable only for a short term, usually just 6 months or so. The long term (or the standard) APR is different. So, when you go looking for a credit card to consolidate with, keep an eye on these 3 elements:

1) introductory APR
2) introductory APR period
3) standard APR

Introductory APR is probably the most attractive thing to look for when you are looking to consolidate credit card debt. If you consolidate with a card that has a low introductory APR (like even zero percent), the first thing you get is a bit of relief in terms of the rate at which your debt has been growing. Based on how long that 0% APR period is (generally you will look to consolidate credit card debt with a credit card supplier who offers 0% initial APR), you will at least be able to temporarily break the growth rate of your credit card debt. This should give you a chance to pay down that debt faster! Take advantage of this! Don’t spend the extra money on other stuff or run up more, new cards.

However, you should not ignore the standard APR when you consolidate. This is the interest rate that will be applied to your balance after the expiration of the introductory low APR period.

If the standard APR is too high and you know that you will not be able to clear off the entire credit card debt during the low APR period, that credit card is probably not the best for you to consolidate credit card debt to. However, if you think that you will be able to clear off the entire credit card debt during that period, you can make some compromises on the standard APR of the credit card to which you consolidate credit card debt. In addition, you can look for new attractive offers that you can transfer to once your intro APR skyrockets. It is generally not a good idea to be constantly transferring debt around from card-to-card, but in some cases, you don’t have a choice.

The key here is to stay organized, watch your APR from month-to-month, and don’t charge anymore debts or open any new accounts. You may just have to sacrifice for a few months in order to get out of credit card debt; otherwise, you may be needing one of those divorce attorneys we talked about in the beginning!

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