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A guide on how to lower credit card bills

This guide on how to lower credit card bills outlines how to reduce credit card interest and how to lower credit card payments.

Here's how to reduce your credit card payments and get the best credit card for you – at the lowest cost.

Reduce my credit card interest - switch to a 0% interest card

Many standard cards charge from 15% to 25% interest. If you owe money, you can save hundreds of pounds by switching to one that charges 0% for balance transfers - often for as long as 15 months. This is a good way to reduce credit card interest.

These cards usually charge a transfer fee (those that don't tend to offer 0% for a short period).

But the fee is usually a fraction of the interest you save, leaving you much better off.

How to save £350 a year

Imagine you owe £3,000 on a credit card charging 15% a year.

You could save £350 a year by switching to a 0% card – and that's AFTER taking account of a 2.5% transfer fee.

Switch or stick	Stick with current card	Switch to a 0% card
Interest charged	£420	£0
2.5% transfer fee	£0	£75
Total cost	£420	£75
	Saving: £350

Lower my credit card payments - always pay on time

Always pay your credit card bill on time. The simplest way to do this is to set up a Direct Debit, even if it's just for the minimum amount each month.

Paying your bill late can cost you in several ways:

There may be a charge - £12, say.
You may lose any perks – you may not earn cashback for any months you pay late, for instance.
The late payment will show up on your credit record. This may make you less likely to get credit in future, or may mean lenders want to charge you a higher rate of interest.

Lower my credit card payments - never spend on a balance transfer card

A good way to lower credit card payments is to avoid spending money with a balance transfer card.

This is because card companies usually treat the money you owe differently.

There's the balance you transferred, on which no interest is charged and there's any new spending, on which they do charge interest.

What this means for you

Your payments are nearly always used to pay off the balance transfer first – this is the money on which you're paying no interest.

You won't repay the money on which you ARE paying interest until you've repaid the whole balance transfer – something you may not have been planning to do for over a year.

The solution? Keep your old card, and use that for spending – but don't let having two cards lead you to spending more than you can afford.

Lower my credit card payments - pay more than the minimum

You owe £1,000 on your card. The minimum payment of 2% a month is £20. So that'll take 50 months or about 4 years to pay off, right? Unfortunately not.

For a start, you get charged interest every month. Also, the amount you pay back actually goes down each month. When you owe £500, that 2% minimum is just £10.

This means it can actually take 10 or 20 years to repay a credit card if you just repay the minimum each month.

So, if you can, repay more. Remember, the more you pay off, the less interest you pay in total and the quicker you repay the money.

Lower my credit card bills brought to you by LowerMyBills from Experian

The LowerMyBills guide on how to lower your credit card bills was created to show you how to switch to a better rate, reduce credit card interest, lower credit card payments and reduce bill payment costs, so that you have the information you need to help you to lower your credit card bills.