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5 expert-driven tips for paying off $30,000 in credit card debt
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Over the last couple of years, issues with persistent inflation have sparked an increase in the price of many necessities like gas, food and housing. In turn, many households are struggling to pay for these essentials and are using credit cards to fill in the gaps. In fact, one in five credit card accounts are now maxed out.
While using a credit card can help you cover basic household expenses, this type of borrowing typically comes with high rates. For example, the average credit card rate is currently 22.63% (as of July 9, 2024) — but depending on your credit and borrower profile, your card rates could be much higher.
As a result, paying off credit card debt can be challenging, especially if you have a significant balance, like $30,000 in card debt. With a debt that high, it could take decades to pay off what you owe due to compounding interest. But the good news is that there are several strategies you can use to pay down $30,000 in card debt, experts say.
Need to get rid of high-rate card debt now? Explore your top debt relief options here.
5 expert-driven tips for paying off $30,000 in credit card debt
Here are some expert-driven strategies that may help you pay off $30,000 in credit card debt.
Choose a debt repayment strategy
If you have extra funds to pay more than the minimum amount on your credit cards, consider using debt repayment strategies like the debt avalanche or snowball methods.
The debt avalanche method involves focusing on making additional payments on your card with the highest interest rate first while making minimum payments on your other balances.
With the debt snowball method, you focus on making extra payments on your credit card with the smallest balance while making minimum payments on your other cards.
“Mathematically the debt avalanche method is better [because you can save the most on interest],” says Edward Zhexu Ai, assistant professor of finance at Wagner College.
Realistically, though, people need more motivation to cut their expenses consistently to pay off debts, Ai says. So, if quick wins will motivate you to continue paying down debt, the debt snowball method may be the best solution for you.
Find out more about what your debt relief options are today.
Tap your home’s equity
If you’re a homeowner, tapping your home’s equity via a home equity loan or home equity line of credit (HELOC) and using the funds to pay down some or all of your $30,000 in credit card debt could be a viable option, experts say.
For example, if you have good credit and you are financially stable, Ai says he would recommend using a home equity loan. You can typically get a lower interest rate with these loans [than credit cards] because you’re using your house as collateral.
However, one of the major risks is that home equity loans and HELOCs use your home as collateral. So, if you can’t repay the home equity loan as promised, the lender can foreclose on your home.
Take out a debt consolidation loan
Another debt relief option that can help you pay down $30,000 is taking out a debt consolidation loan, which is a type of loan that is used to pay off your debts, including credit cards. The main benefit of debt consolidation loans is that they typically offer lower average rates than your credit cards, reducing the amount owed in interest. And, by rolling multiple credit card balances into one loan, you can also streamline your payments.
You can typically get a loan for debt consolidation through a bank, online lender or credit union. In addition, many debt relief companies offer debt consolidation loans through partner lenders.
This option can be smart to consider, Ai says, if your credit score is good enough to get a favorable interest rate on the new loan.
Utilize credit card debt settlement
Many debt relief companies offer credit card debt settlement, also known as credit card debt forgiveness, as a service to those they work with. With this option, the debt relief company negotiates with your creditors to try and secure an agreement for a lump-sum settlement for less than you owe.
If successful, these negotiations can result in paying a lot less in total for your credit card debt. But while debt settlement may help you substantially reduce your debt, it does come with some downsides.
For example, a debt settlement can leave a negative mark on your credit report — and it’s often worse than bankruptcy, says Glenn Downing, CFP at investment firm CameronDowning. As a result, his firm doesn’t recommend taking this route to get out of credit card debt.
Another downside is that there are often tax implications tied to credit card debt forgiveness.
“The forgiven amount would be considered taxable income. So having credit card debt forgiven could lead to a higher tax bill,” says Ai.
Use a balance transfer credit card
Another option is to transfer some or all of your credit card debt to a balance transfer credit card. If you can qualify for the right balance transfer card, you could save thousands of dollars in interest. After all, some credit card issuers have 0% promotional APR periods as long as 21 months — allowing you to aggressively pay down your balance without additional interest.
According to Francisco Ayala, CFA and CFP at The Coleridge Group, a financial planning company, this is often the best way to reduce your interest costs. That said, this option does have some potential downsides.
For example, credit card issuers typically charge a balance transfer fee that ranges from 3% to 5% of the transferred amount. So, if you transferred $15,000 of your credit card debt to another card, you might pay a balance transfer fee ranging from $450 to $750, depending on the fee the card charges.
Another drawback is that once the promotional window closes, you’ll have to pay any remaining balance at the card’s standard rate, which is often high. So, if you’re going to take this route, it’s important to have a plan in place to pay off what you owe before the promotional period ends.
The bottom line
Paying off $30,000 in credit card debt is no easy feat, especially in today’s economic environment. But there are options to achieve debt relief. For example, you could consolidate debt on your own with a home equity loan or personal loan. Or, if you’re having trouble making minimum payments on your cards, it might make sense to seek help from a debt relief company.
Whatever strategy you use to pay down credit card debt, it’s crucial to review your finances to determine what got you into debt in the first place. If the reason was bad spending habits or a lack of income, you’ll need to modify your behavior or find ways to boost your income. If the behavior isn’t modified and cash flows aren’t improved, consolidation loans, balance transfers and other debt relief options are temporary bandages that are going to fall off at some point, Edward Silversmith, CFP at financial planning firm Wealth Enhancement Group, says.
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France’s President Emmanuel Macron tours cyclone-battered Mayotte, meets survivors pleading for help
Mamoudzou, Mayotte — France’s President Emmanuel Macron traveled Thursday to the Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte to survey the devastation that Cyclone Chido wrought across the French territory as thousands of people tried to cope without bare essentials such as water or electricity.
“Mayotte is demolished,” an airport security agent told Macron as soon as he stepped off the plane.
The security agent, Assane Haloi, said her family members, including small children, are without water or electricity and have nowhere to go after the strongest cyclone in nearly a century ripped through the French territory of Mayotte off the coast of Africa on Saturday.
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“There’s no roof, there’s nothing. No water, no food, no electricity. We can’t even shelter, we are all wet with our children covering ourselves with whatever we have so that we can sleep,” she said, asking for emergency aid.
Macron got a helicopter tour of the damage and was to spend Thursday night on the far-flung French territory. After flying over the destruction, he headed to the hospital in Mamoudzou, Mayotte’s capital, to meet medical staff and patients.
Wearing a traditional Mayotte scarf on his white shirt and tie, sleeves rolled to the elbows, the French president listened to people asking for help. A member of the medical staff told him some people hadn’t had a drink of water for 48 hours.
Some residents also expressed agony at not knowing about those who have died or are still missing, partly because of the Muslim practice of burying the dead within 24 hours.
LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/AFP/Getty
“We’re dealing with open-air mass graves,” Mayotte lawmaker Estelle Youssoufa told reporters. “There are no rescuers, no one has come to recover the buried bodies.”
Some survivors and aid groups have described hasty burials and the stench of bodies.
Macron acknowledged that many who died hadn’t been reported. He said phone services will be repaired “in the coming days” so that people can report their missing loved ones.
French authorities have said at least 31 people died and more than 1,500 people were injured, more than 200 critically. But it’s feared hundreds or even thousands of people have died in total.
Abdou Houmadou, 27, said emergency aid was needed immediately, not Macron’s presence.
“Mr. President, what I’d like to tell you… is I think the spending you made from Paris to Mayotte would have been better spent to help the people,” he said.
Another resident, Ahamadi Mohammed, said Macron’s visit “is a good thing because he’ll be able to see by himself the damage.”
“I think that we’ll then get significant aid to try and get the island back on its feet,” the 58-year-old said.
LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/AFP/Getty
Macron’s office said four tons of food and medical aid, as well as additional rescuers, were aboard the president’s flight. A navy ship was due to arrive in Mayotte on Thursday with another 180 tons of aid and equipment, according to the French military.
People living in a large slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou were some of the hardest hit by the cyclone. Many lost their houses, some lost friends.
Nassirou Hamidouni sheltered in his house when the cyclone hit.
His neighbor was killed when his house collapsed on him and his six children. Hamidouni and others dug through the rubble to reach them.
The 28-year-old father of five is now trying to rebuild his own house, which was also destroyed.
He believes the death toll is much higher than what’s officially being reported, given the severity of what he lived through.
“It was very hard,” he said.
Mayotte, located in the Indian Ocean between mainland Africa’s east coast and northern Madagascar, is France’s poorest territory.
The cyclone devastated entire neighborhoods and many people ignored the warnings, thinking the storm wouldn’t be so extreme.
Mayotte has more than 320,000 residents according to the French government. Most are Muslim and French authorities have estimated another 100,000 migrants live there.
Mayotte is the only part of the Comoros archipelago that voted to remain a part of France in a 1974 referendum.
Over the last decade, the French territory has seen a massive influx of migrants from the neighboring islands – the independent nation of Comoros, which is one of the world’s poorest countries.
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Google Maps helps solve murder mystery by capturing moment a person put suspected corpse into car in Spain
Google Maps has guided Spanish investigators to resolve a year-long murder mystery by capturing the moment a person stowed a suspected corpse into a car.
Police in the northern region of Castile and Leon began their probe in November 2023 when someone reported the disappearance of a male relative.
Officers arrested a woman who was the missing male’s partner and another man who was her ex-partner in Soria province on November 12, police said in a statement on Wednesday.
Investigators then raided the suspects’ homes and inspected their vehicles but also stumbled on an unexpected lead in the search for further clues.
These were “images in a location application” where they “detected a vehicle that may have been used during the course of the crime,” the statement said.
Spanish media circulated pictures of a screenshot of Google Maps’ Street View from October 2024 showing a person dumping an object covered in a white shroud into a car trunk in the village of Tajueco. It was the first time in 15 years that the car had been to the town of Tajueco, the BBC reported.
The images contributed to resolving the case, though they were not “decisive,” police said.
Officials said another photo sequence shows the blurred silhouette of someone transporting a large white bundle in a wheelbarrow, the BBC reported.
The central government’s representative in Soria, Miguel Latorre, told public broadcaster RTVE the person “can presumably be” considered the culprit.
Police said a severely decomposed human torso believed to belong to the victim had been found this month in a cemetery in Soria province. El Pais daily reported that he was a 33-year-old Cuban.
A judge has ordered the suspects into custody and the investigation remains open.
This marks at least the second time that Google technology has helped crack a cold case. In 2019, the remains of a man missing for 22 years were finally found thanks to someone who zoomed in on his former Florida neighborhood with Google satellite images and noticed a car submerged in a lake.
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2 soldiers killed by landmine blast in Mexico day after 2 troops killed by booby trap in same region
A blast killed two Mexican soldiers in the second deadly incident this week involving an improvised landmine in a crime-plagued western state, authorities said Wednesday.
According to the El Universal newspaper, the soldiers were trying to deactivate the device when it exploded.
The blast happened late on Tuesday in Buenavista in Michoacan, the state prosecutor’s office said.
A military source who did not want to be named said that troops were looking for similar devices believed to have been planted in the area.
On Monday, a blast caused by another improvised landmine killed two Mexican soldiers and wounded five others in the same region. Before the explosion, the soldiers had discovered the dismembered bodies of three people, officials said.
The device was suspected to have been planted by members of a local criminal group waging a turf war with a bigger drug cartel, Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla said Tuesday.
Six other soldiers had been killed by similar improvised devices since late 2018, he said.
Mexico is plagued by widespread drug-related violence that has seen more than 450,000 people killed since the government deployed the army to combat trafficking in 2006, according to official figures.
In the only previous detailed report on cartel bomb attacks in August 2023, the defense department said at that time that a total of 42 soldiers, police and suspects were wounded by IEDs in the first seven and a half months of 2023, up from 16 in all of 2022.
Overall, 556 improvised explosive devices of all types – roadside, drone-carried and car bombs – were found in 2023, the army said in a news release last year.
4 to 7 inches expected
France’s President Emmanuel Macron tours cyclone-battered Mayotte, meets survivors pleading for help
Google Maps helps solve murder mystery by capturing moment a person put suspected corpse into car in Spain
4 to 7 inches expected
France’s President Emmanuel Macron tours cyclone-battered Mayotte, meets survivors pleading for help