These 4 Simple Moves Can Make You Debt-Free. But You Won’t Do Them

We all want to be debt-free, right?

But why stop there? It’d be nice to have a little savings stash, too. Maybe some spending money for, I don’t know, a vacation? A splurge? A treat-yourself day?

Listen: Becoming debt-free — and even having some savings — doesn’t have to be The Most Difficult Thing Ever™.

In fact, we have a few tips that will make it easier than you might think.

Wait. Wait. We all know how it goes. You make ambitious plans. You know you could accomplish these things if you just rip the Band-aid off and stick with them. But you won’t. The task seems so daunting that you just procrastinate. Forever.

Let’s make it different this time. These four tips can help set you on the path to be debt-free. If you actually stick with them…

1. Finally Seek Help in Paying Down Those Credit Cards

Every month, you make payments toward your credit card debt. But you never seem to make a dent. It’s because of those sky-high interest rates — as much as 24% interest. It can feel impossible to get ahead.

But MoneyLion could help you find offers to cut your interest rate by 70% as soon as tomorrow.

Here’s how it works: MoneyLion can match you with new loan offers at a lower interest rate — as low as 5.20% APR*. That’s 70%* lower than the average credit card interest rate. And it’s the key to finally getting ahead.

You can use this new loan to pay off all your existing credit card debt, then you’ll be left with one (cheaper) monthly payment that will help you get out of debt faster.

If you have a credit score of at least 620, you could get up to $100,000. With no collateral. And terms go up to 144 months.

Worried you won’t qualify? Take two minutes to check online and see if you could cut your credit card interest rate by 70%.

*Based on creditworthiness. Average credit card interest rate is 24.72% as of 8/14/23, according to Forbes Advisor’s weekly credit card rates report.

2. Knock Up To $715/Year Off Your Car Insurance in Minutes

When was the last time you compared car insurance rates? Chances are you’re seriously overpaying with your current policy.

If it’s been more than six months since your last car insurance quote, you should look again.

And if you look through a digital marketplace called SmartFinancial, you could be getting rates as low as $22 a month — and saving yourself more than $700 a year.

It takes one minute to get quotes from multiple insurers, so you can see all the best rates side-by-side. Yep — in just one minute you could save yourself $715 this year. That’s some major cash back in your pocket.

So if you haven’t checked car insurance rates in a while, see how much you can save with a new policy.

3. Go on a Treasure Hunt to Find Hidden Cash (Without Digging Your Heels in)

Actually, in this case, you literally won’t have to go on a treasure hunt, which is all the more reason to go ahead and check this simple task off your to-do list. It’s super easy to dig up hidden cash when you just take a few minutes to find out where you’re losing money.

First, download TrueBill, an app that’ll negotiate your bills, cancel unwanted subscriptions and refund your bank fees. On average, Truebill says it helps customers save more than $700 a year.

Second, try digging up some extra cash with Capital One Shopping Price Protection — a tool that gets you money back for your online purchases.It’s free to sign up, and once you do, it will scan your email for any receipts. If it discovers you’ve purchased something from one of its monitored retailers, it will track the item’s price and help you get a refund when there’s a price drop.

Finally, one of our favorite ways to save on everything is with Ebates, a cash-back site that rewards you nearly every time you buy something online. For example, Ebates gives you 10% cash-back on online purchases at Walmart. Plus, you’ll get a free $10 gift card to Walmart for giving the site a try.

Disclosure: Capital One Shopping Price Protection compensates us when you sign up using the links we provide.

4. Start Paying Your Bills on Time (Because This Company Will Reward You)

OK, so maybe you just need a little bit of an incentive to get your finances in order. Well, remember how your parents gave you an allowance for washing the dishes and sweeping the floor?

Now that you’re a grown-up, you no longer get rewarded for just doing the things that are expected of you — like, for instance, paying bills on time.

Not until now, anyway. MoneyLion, a free app for managing your personal finances, will reward you for things like paying your bills and monitoring your credit — even just setting up an account in the app.

Much like that childhood allowance, it’s basically bribing you to be good.

You’ll earn points in the app’s rewards program, and you can redeem them for gift cards to more than 15,000 retailers, including places like Walmart, Applebee’s and Amazon.

If you want to take it a step further and work on paying down debts, for example, MoneyLion can help with a loan to consolidate your debt and potentially reduce your interest rates. And it’ll reward you for that, too!