Whether you’re drowning in credit card debt or just looking to streamline your payments, there are countless options to choose from when it comes to managing your credit card debt. Two very common solutions for credit card debt management are debt consolidation loans and balance transfer programs.  

Debt Consolidation Loans vs Balance Transfers 

When considering the advantages of a debt consolidation loan vs balance transfer, you'll want to think about how both of them can help based on your specific financial situation. 

What is Debt Consolidation?

Debt consolidation is when you take all of your existing debt, whether it’s from credit cards or loans, and combine them into a single debt consolidation loan. Essentially, you are taking out a new loan and using that loan to pay off your existing balances on credit cards, loans or even medical debts. This option is often a helpful solution for people who are making payments every month to multiple creditors. Debt consolidation is also beneficial if you are paying high interest on your credit cards, as most consolidation loans have a lower interest rate than credit cards.

The most common type of debt consolidation is through an unsecured loan, which is also referred to as a personal loan or signature loan. In some cases you can consolidate your debt using a home equity loan or even a vehicle loan. For this article, though, when we refer to a debt consolidation loan we're talking about an unsecured loan.

A debt consolidation loan will have a fixed interest rate and fixed term, which means your monthly payment will not fluctuate based on the balance you owe. A fixed term means you will know exactly when you will have your debt paid off. For example, if your fixed term is 48 months (4 years) you know that if you make all your payments on time you will be debt free in 4 years.

A Debt Consolidation Loan may be Helpful in Paying off Credit Card Debt if you:

• have multiple debts owed to multiple creditors
• are struggling to pay all your debts on-time every month
• are paying high interest rates and want a lower interest rate
• want to have a definite date for your debt to be paid-off
• want a fixed payment for easier budgeting

A Debt Consolidation Loan May Not be Helpful in Paying Off Credit Card Debt if You:

• are not struggling to pay your debts on-time
• cannot get a lower interest rate than what you already have
• are close to paying off your debts
• only have one or two small debts

Find out if debt consolidation is right for you with this free calculator tool.

What is a Balance Transfer?

So here’s where it can get a little confusing. Balance transfers are technically another way you can consolidate credit card debt, but instead of a loan you are using another credit card to pay off your existing balances. With a balance transfer program you are using a lower interest rate credit card to pay off higher interest rate credit cards. It is possible to transfer only one balance from one credit card to another card as well. However, balance transfers often are most helpful when you are paying on several high interest rate cards and can qualify for a lower interest rate credit card, thus saving you money on your monthly payment.

There are a plethora of balance transfer offers out there at any given time. The key to making balance transfers work for you in the long term in paying attention to what kind of credit card you are transferring your balances to in the first place. While many balance transfer programs offer zero to low interest rates up front, after several months those introductory rates expire and you are left paying the normal rate on the credit card. Which if you’re not paying attention to the fine print, can be just as high or higher than the rates you were paying on before, so read the terms and conditions closely. You would never want to transfer balances from a lower interest rate to a higher rate card, even if they are offering you a great introductory offer.