(Avoidable) Mistakes Everyone Repaying Debt Makes

There is no single way of repaying debt — well, to an extent. There might not be a single right way of repaying debt, but there are plenty of wrong ways to go about the process. 

Repaying debt is incredibly time-consuming, requiring a huge amount of willpower often with no let-up for months on end. If you’re going to invest time into going through the repayment process, it follows that you should want to get it right. Below, collated together are the oh-so-avoidable mistakes that people tend to make when trying to pay off debt. 

Falling Off The Wagon…

… and taking days, if not weeks, to climb back aboard. 

When paying off debt, everyone — literally, every single person who has ever tried to pay off their debts — will have a moment where they can’t resist a splurge. It might be big or small, but the key point is that it’s outside of your budget, and you bought it anyway.

To a large extent, this slip is completely inevitable. As thesimpledollar.com points out, debt is inherently stressful and will make knocks on your self-esteem. While you may be able to cope with the mental impact of debt repayment some of the time, occasionally, you’re just… not going to be in the mood. If you do stray from your budget, then just take a deep breath, put it behind you, and hop right back on the wagon.

Stopping All Usage Of Credit… 

… and thus severely damaging your credit score. 

As ridiculous as it sounds, choosing not to use credit can actually damage your credit score. As creditrepair.co notes, lenders want to know that you are a viable candidate to borrow money — they want to know you can manage your account and make repayments. You’re not going to be able to display this history if you do the classic “I’m paying off my debts” move of cutting up all your credit cards.

You need to show that you’re still a financially viable person so that your credit score doesn’t tank. Keep one card open and use it to buy something small every month; you should then pay the balance off in full so that you avoid interest. 

Paying Back Too Much…

… and leaving your budget dangerously short for the month.

It’s generally a good thing if you’re setting aside a portion of your income so you can repay your creditors. However, this becomes problematic if you enjoy repaying debt so much — and a lot of people do — that you go a little overboard in your calculations. Yes, repaying debt is important, but you still have to live. Try and always ensure you have money set aside for the essentials, a couple of fun entertainment nights, and a contingency fund — if you have anything leftover from these amounts at the end of the month, you can still use them to repay debt. 

Now that you know what the common mistakes are, you can avoid them, and ensure that your debt repayment journey is as smooth as possible.