Credit Card Debt: How To Manage, Consolidate and Pay Off Balances

Learn how to pay off multiple credit cards strategically with the snowball method, avalanche method or consolidation — plus habits that keep you debt-free.

Can paying off debt hurt your credit score? It can dip briefly, especially with loans or if you close a card — but it usually rebounds within a month or two.

Done right, debt consolidation can provide a relatively fast, simple and affordable way out of increasingly unmanageable and toxic credit-card debt.

Debt relief companies are for-profit businesses that negotiate with creditors to reduce the amount their customers can repay to close an account.