Top Debt Management Apps That You Simply Must Have To Attain Financial Independence

Not so long ago managing debt was a matter of placing a stack of bills on one side and writing out one check after another and keeping your fingers crossed that your bank balance would be sufficient on the day the checks hit the bank. Even though the task was tedious, you were saved by the fact that you had only a few debts to manage. The scenario today has completely changed with the average customer not only having a large number of credit cards to track but also personal loans and student loans to stay on top. Luckily, debt monitoring and management also have undergone a sea change with technology first providing calculators and computer spreadsheets and then smartphone apps for virtually every money management task that you can imagine. While there are a very large number of apps that focus on providing budgeting solutions with debt management features on the side, there are also some apps that focus exclusively on managing debt. Some of the most popular debt management smartphone apps that can help you to regain your financial freedom:

Credit Sesame

Credit Sesame is also a free app that is available on both iOS and Android that allows you to check your credit score from Experian on the go. The score gets updated every month so you can follow the progress of your efforts to bring your debt under control by viewing the trending graph generated by the app. You can also find out your credit utilization ratio and also view its trend over the last few months. The debt section of the app allows you to view all the debts you have, including your credit card dues. Apart from showing the total of the debt, it also informs you of the trend of the total debt being carried by you. A separate screen shows you the breakdown of all the debts by the monthly payments due so that you know exactly what payment is due every month of each of your debts and you do not miss a payment. The app also has a home value section in which you can see the value of your home based on an estimate culled automatically from DataQuick.com or any other figure that you may have entered manually and see the trend of the value of your home over time. You can also find out how much equity you have in your home since the time you had purchased it. The app also analyzes your financial situation and makes recommendations for optimizing it so that you can save more. It also provides home refinance offers that can be of benefit and you can even use the app to apply for these loans.

Credit Karma

Available on both Android and iOS operating systems, Credit Karma is a free app that provides your credit report and score as well as advice related to the management of your savings account and credit cards and other financial resources to enable you to control your personal finances better. According to https://www.forbes.com, Credit Karma provides users with the VantageScore 3.0, an alternative to the FICO score. The credit report card generated by the app covers the main categories such as past due balances, inquiries, previous bankruptcies, etc. based on data sourced by two of the leading credit agencies, Equifax and Transunion. Since the app is completely free without any trial membership or signup fees, Credit Karma generates income by suggesting products that can improve your credit score. When you buy any of the sponsored products, the app receives compensation from the company behind the product. For example, if the user opts for debt settlement services from a sponsor like Nationaldebtrelief.com, Credit Karma will get an incentive from it.

Mint

This is another free money management app that is extremely popular with more than 15 million users. The simple interface allows you to integrate new accounts in a jiffy and the app is able to download all the financial data from the accounts seamlessly. The data is updated every time you use the app and all the vital information presented in a very easy to use interface along with attractive graphs. Mint is extremely useful for managing personal finance with tools that can be very easily used for financial budgeting, setting goals, and aggregating all financial information in the same place. It has a very useful dashboard that allows the user to get all the vital financial information at a glance. The biggest limitation of the app is that while budgeting and goal-setting works like a dream, it can only read your financial information and does not have the capability of making fund transfers or bill payments from within the app.

Unbury.me

Unbury.me is a wonderful loan calculator available for free online that you can use to organize your debt payments. To use the facility, you do not have to create an account; all you need to do is to log in. To start using the tool, you need to enter all your loan details like loan name, amount outstanding, the rate of interest, and the minimum monthly payment. The tool will aggregate all the information and let you know of the amount you need to pay every month and the total interest outgo if you were to pay only the minimum amount due. The app will also generate a graph that shows the principal amount being wound down over time. The main utility of the app is that you can alter the amount that you pay every month on each of the individual debts and find out the effect on the repayment of the debt. The app even lets you select the method of debt repayment; avalanche or snowball as per your convenience. You can compare both the methods and find out which one works for you better.

Conclusion

Effective management of your personal finances is the key to getting rid of debt as soon as possible. The various technologies behind the apps and tools discussed here focus on the main variables to give you accurate estimates of the cost or time required to free yourself from debt.