A goal without a plan is little more than a dream. In these uncertain times, becoming debt-free is certainly a worthy undertaking. However, you’ll need to devise a strategy by which you will do so. Monitoring that plan closely to ensure you’re accomplishing the tasks necessary to get there is important too.
Yes, you can do all of this with pencil and paper — people have done so for years. However, there are a number of smart digital solutions you can leverage now to make eradicating your obligations easier and more efficient.
Here are some of the most effective debt payoff tools and apps.
Tally
Designed specifically for those who prefer to set it and forget it, according to U.S News & World Report, Tally actually pays your credit card bills for you. Once you’ve registered all of your cards, the application prioritizes the payments to reflect what it determines to be the most efficient disbursement schedule. You’ll make a single payment to the service behind the application each month, from which your credit card payments are made.
Tally also offers a line of credit with which you can consolidate your debts to make payoff easier. As of this writing, the interest rate on this service ranges from 7.9 to 19 percent annually. Be aware though, you’ll need a credit score of at least 660 to qualify for the line of credit.
PayForEd
Designed specifically for student loans, PayForEd helps prospective students before they get loans, as well as graduates trying to figure out how to get out of debt. PayForEd can track existing loans, analyze repayment plans and point users toward refinancing and debt forgiveness programs.
Moreover, for those planning college budgets, the application helps users get an idea of what the payments on a given loan amount will be post-graduation. Subscription-based, you’ll pay $59.95 for one year.
Unbury.Me
Lauded by The Simple Dollar as a simple and straightforward calculator tool, Unbury.Me’s streamlined interface is ideal for creating payment plans, without the need to establish an account with the vendor or login. Free to use — another plus — user-friendliness is one of the application’s primary virtues.
Designed specifically to function with the Debt Snowball and Avalanche strategies, Unbury.Me will help you find your best plan of action and even project your ultimate payoff date.
ZilchWorks
Looking to get rid of your debt in 18 months or less? The ZilchWorks debt reduction software requests the name of your creditor, the interest rate, your current balance and the monthly payment for all of your outstanding financial obligations.
According to The Balance, once all of that data is entered, the program crunches the numbers and comes up with a plan you can follow to kill those debts in the shortest amount of time. It also shows you what it would cost to pay off the debts on a standard time frame — as well as how long it would take — so you can see your savings firsthand. The download cost is $39.95.
AnnualCreditReport.com
While not exactly an application, nor software, AnnualCreditReport.com does have a very useful purpose when it comes to managing your credit in general. You can get free copies of each of your three credit reports (from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) at this site to enable you to keep a watchful eye on your credit history and protect your credit score.
Pro Tip: Rather than asking for all three at once, request a different one every four months so you can monitor your reports on a rolling basis.
These are among the most effective debt payoff tools and apps you’ll find. Of course, these are but five of many. Running a quick search in your platform’s app store will help you find many, many more.
