This blog post is part of the Pay Down My Debt (PDMD) blog tour, sponsored by US Equity Advantage. PDMD is a solution that accelerates debt payoff and helps consumers monitor their credit and make smarter purchasing decisions. If you’re looking to pay off debt find out how they can help.
We talk about paying off debt on this blog. A lot.
After all, debt has become a huge issue for many households. Whether it’s student loan debt *raises hand*, credit card debt, a mortgage, or some other form of personal debt, there’s literally trillions of dollars of debt in the United States.
Anyone who has spent even a little time reading our posts knows that our primary focus for paying off debt faster is through side hustles. My entire book is based on paying off debt faster through side hustles.
But side hustles aren’t the only way to pay off your debt faster. In fact, I’m a big advocate of looking for “easy” wins before considering side hustles.
One thing I don’t mention in my book that I want to share with you today is the power of utilizing bi-weekly debt payments.
It may not seem like it at first, but making just this one change can have a huge positive impact on your finances long-term, and help you pay down your debt faster.
Let’s dig into how exactly making this one thing helps you pay off your debt faster.
Bi-Weekly Debt Payments – An Underutilized Weapon in Paying Down Debt Faster
The best way to pay down debt faster is to make extra payments towards your debt. If you make the minimum payments, especially with credit cards, you are going to be paying off your debt much longer than if you make extra payments towards your debt.
When you pay more than the minimum payment you are paying off additional principle of your debt, as opposed to interest.
Payment towards debt is usually done on a monthly basis. That means you are making 12 payments a year. If you make two payments a month, you are making 24 payments. But bi-weekly payments result in 26 payments a year, meaning you are making two extra payments.
Those two extra payments can cut off weeks or even years of payments. That’s huge!
But here’s the problem: everyone is busy. Are you really going to stick to manually making bi-weekly payments? Let’s make your life easier by automating those payments.
Next Step: Automate Bi-Weekly Payments
Automation is a good thing in personal finance because it means automating good decisions. For example, bi-weekly payments are an excellent way to improve your finances. You can automate this good decision and not have to give mental energy towards it by putting it on auto-drive.
One way to automate bi-weekly payments is through Pay Down My Debt (PDMD). PDMD can automate mortgage payments, credit card payments, and any other payments on debt.
PDMD doesn’t just pay your bills automatically, though, they pay it bi-weekly. By switching to bi-weekly payments you will cut down weeks or even years of loan payments. Automating this payment process will ensure that you stick with your plan to cut down the length of your loans, and will make your life easier because you will know that PDMD is automatically making your payments.
PDMD comes with a number of benefits, including:
- Automated Payments on Up to 3 Loans payments on up to 3 loans
- Additional Loans for $1 Each
- Monthly Credit Scores
- Financial Planning Resources
- Other Benefits as Outlined On Their Website
PDMD does cost $9.95 a month, but considering the fact it will save you so much on your loans through automated bi-weekly payments, the benefits far outweigh the monthly cost.
Head on over to the Pay Down My Debt website to find out more. Remember, bi-weekly payments could cut months or years off the length of your loan!
What actions have you taken to pay down your debt faster? Did they take a lot of effort or just a little effort? Have you utilized or considered utilizing bi-weekly payments?
Check out some of our favorite personal finance resources:
Are you getting the best credit card rewards? Check out the top cash back credit card offers (updated daily)
Make extra money: 15 ways to make money from your computer
Get the First Chapter Free!
Join our online community and get the first chapter of the book Student Loan Solution absolutely FREE!
Could not agree more DC. When I was paying off debt I made bi-weekly payments as a means to knock it down faster. We’re effectively doing the same thing now with our mortgage as we want to pay it off as soon as possible, so it’s a no-brainer.
Looking forward to hearing more about your mortgage pay down! I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum…I can’t pay my mortgage off slow enough. Locked in at 3.25% for 30 years and planning on renting this house out down the road. Not much incentive to pay it off any quicker than required.
I have taken this one step further and do everything weekly! A lot of my bills don’t allow bi-weekly auto payments, only monthly. So those monthly payments always go out but every single week I take a look at the cash in my account and the bills coming up.
I’ve paid an extra $638.80 this year on my mortgage and have yet to pay a CC interest rate because I pay the balance off weekly. When I do it weekly, I am less overwhelmed by the numbers I’m trying to pay and it keeps me more accountable for where my money has to go.
That’s such a great idea! Another person who commented said they make weekly payments as well, and it’s another great way to pay off your debt faster.
This is a nice little debt “hack”. When there is something that will help you pay off debt quicker while not taking up any more mental bandwith than necessary, that’s a win.
That’s the big benefit of PDMD – not having to think about it. Whenever you can automate a good decision it’s a great thing!
I also make multiple payments each month on some of my debts. That was one of the ways that I was able to pay off my credit card debt.
This approach definitely works well for credit card debt, considering the amount of interest that comes into play. Also congrats again on getting rid of your credit card debt!
The ~$10 monthly fee sounds nominal. PDMD sounds like it is definitely worth every penny for the amount of money it is going to save in the long run by helping one’s debt down faster.
Right now, the only debt I have is mortgage where I have set it up for weekly payments directly with my bank which translates to ~4 or 5 payments per month. This is helping me pay down my mortgage even faster.
4-5 payments a month? I like it, Michael! It’s definitely a good way to pay down debt faster.
When you say bi-weekly, or weekly as some people mention, do you mean that you are paying the amount due multiple times? Or are you dividing the amount due into more than one payment?