The Dishh

Consolidating credit card debt can be a smart play when your wallet is starting to look like a blackjack deck of credit cards. Especially so when shouldering the financial obligations they represent is also becoming a burden. The key is to catch the problem before it starts to have a negative impact on your credit score. This will give you a shot at the best consolidation loans out there.

What Are Consolidation Loans?

The easiest way to define credit card consolidation loans is debt you take on to combine multiple credit card bills into one. This can take the form of a credit card balance transfer, a consolidation loan, a home equity line of credit or a debt management program.

Let’s take a look at each of these options in more detail.

Balance Transfer Cards 

Credit card issuers often send these offers to customers with strong credit scores. Essentially, they allow you to combine the balances of multiple cards onto a new card with a limit high enough to encompass the shifted balances.

The key here is to ensure the introductory rate is low enough to afford you a significant advantage overpaying all of the cards separately.

You have to be careful with this one though.

These cards usually come with a super low teaser rate — sometimes even 0% — for a limited time frame of anywhere from 18 to 24 months. That rate tends to rocket into the 20% range or higher once that window closes and the new rate can be applied to the entire transferred amount — as of the date you accepted the card — even if most of that amount has been paid.

To win at this strategy, you have to be careful to transfer no more than you can pay in full within the grace period.

Consolidation Loans

There are a variety of loans you can take to accomplish consolidation. These range from personal loans backed by your signature to home equity loans against which you pledge your home as collateral.

The advantage here is the monthly payment is consistent, as there is no teaser rate of which to be aware. Moreover, interest rates on these loans are considerably lower than those of balance transfers once the grace period closes.

Home equity loans offer even better interest rates and the capability of using the interest as a tax deduction. However, these entail trading unsecured credit card debt for secured mortgage debt. This means you could lose the property pledged as collateral if your ability to service the loan goes awry. You can learn more about consolidation loans at https://www.FreedomDebtRelief.com.

Debt Management Plans 

While not exactly a consolidation plan, or a loan at all for that matter, going with debt management does have the advantage of combining all of your credit card bills into one monthly payment. You’ll send the money to a credit counselor, who will then make the payments on your behalf.

This option is for those who have already encountered problems making payments, as opposed to those who see trouble brewing on the horizon. The debt manager can negotiate lower interest rates on your behalf and sometime even a waiving of any accumulated fees in some cases.

However, your card issuer usually wants to see you’re in trouble before agreeing to accept to one of these deals. You might find your management offers being turned down if trouble has yet to become apparent.

A Word to The Wise

Rather than paying it off, consolidating credit card debt moves it around. You still owe the money, even though all of the cards from which the obligations were consolidated will have zero balances. You might be tempted to use those cards again, which would be a significant mistake.

Doing so would place you in a situation in which you’ll still have the original debts to pay. Along with the new ones you’ll incur. While it’s important to your credit history to keep those accounts open, it’s equally important to your finances to leave the cards in a drawer somewhere unused.

Today, readers have so many more options for how they may consume reading material than we used to. Whether you’re interested in a book or a magazine, you can read it in print, read it online, or listen to a dramatic reading through your favorite podcast app.

You can browse massive libraries of digital collections and probably buy a digital copy of your favorite book for just a few bucks. Why then, are publishers still bothering to print hardcover books?

Hardcovers are bulky and expensive compared to digital options and paperbacks, but they continue to sell. Why is that? There are several potential explanations.

Tangibility

For starters, books remain preferable to digital copies for many readers because of their physicality. Their appeal lies in:

• The feel. Some people just like the feeling of holding a book in their hands. Touching a sheet of paper and physically turning it is a rewarding sensory experience, and the smell of a new book isn’t something you can replicate with a digital device – at least not yet. Readers who appreciate the sensual experience of reading will continue to rely on hardcovers almost exclusively.
• The look. Some people like the look and image of hardcover books, so they prefer them for their collection. If you have a large bookshelf with hundreds of copies of your favorite novels and reference materials, you’ll want all of them to look as prominent and elegant as possible. Hardcover books tend to have a thicker spine, which creates a more impressive visual presentation on a shelf. They’re also more likely to exist in a standardized format.
• Eye strain. Screens are largely unavoidable in modern society, but if you stare at them too much, you could end up with major problems on the basis of eye strain. Computer vision syndrome is a growing problem among people who have to stare at screens for their job, so individuals who want to avoid such an outcome typically prefer to pick up physical copies of books when they can.
• Memory. Studies show that people remember more when they absorb information on paper, rather than a screen. There are many possible explanations for this, including the distraction of ads and other web design elements that can interfere with user attention. In any case, most people find they retain more of the content when they carry a hardcover book in their hands.

The Old Stigma of Paperbacks

It’s also worth noting that when paperbacks first appeared on the market, they came with a stigma. They were a cheaper and more portable option for millions, and allowed readers to travel with the book in a pocket and read it on the go.

Because the books were cheaper to produce and to buy, they were regarded as inferior in other ways. Some people also criticized them for falling apart too easily.

Hardly anyone looks down on paperbacks in the same way anymore, but vestigial attitudes persist. Hardcovers seem more dignified and respectable than paperbacks, as well as electrical impulses on a screen.

Durability

There’s no question that hardcover books are more durable than their paper counterparts. The cover itself is able to withstand a much higher level of abuse. The pages are bound in a more secure way, so you can read the book hundreds of times without worrying about the pages falling out.

If the volume stands on your shelves for many years, it should remain in better condition if it has a cloth binding. Thus, hardcover books can survive for multiple generations, and therefore work much better as collectibles and family heirlooms.

Profitability for Companies

Hardcover books also stay in circulation in part because they’re so profitable. Companies can print hardcover books for as little as a few dollars per unit, but sell them for $30 or more. Because there’s often a hungry audience of loyal readers eager to enjoy the latest release, the first wave of buyers is often willing to shell out more for a hardcover as well.

On top of that, rolling out a hardcover release, followed by a paperback release six months to a year later enables publishing companies to capitalize on at least two release events (and two largely differing audiences). Thanks to the extra money realized by hardcover edition sales, publishers are incentivized to keep the format around.

The Only Downsides

Despite all of the above, hardcover books aren’t perfect. They’re heavy. They’re bulky and more difficult to transport. They’re also more expensive than their paperback counterparts, since they’re sold for several times the price.

Despite their drawbacks, hardcover books retain a number of undeniable strengths. Because of those, hardcover books will likely remain part of the publication and distribution cycle for decades to come, if not indefinitely.

Not everyone prefers the durable and demanding reading experience of hardcover books, but that hasn’t appeared to dampen hardcover sales.