 TITLE: How to Protect Your Credit During a Recession CONTENT: 2\\. Pay Off Existing Debt\n-------------------------\nIf you're fearful a recession could take a toll on your credit, try to pay down your existing debt sooner rather than later. Here's how:\n*   **Find ways to save money.** Cutting back on clothes purchases, making more meals at home instead of ordering takeout or canceling subscriptions you no longer use, for instance, can put extra cash in your pocket. Take any extra money you save and apply it toward your monthly debt balances.\n*   **Use the debt avalanche method.** Make minimum payments on all your credit cards except the one with the highest interest rate—then put as much as your budget will allow toward paying off that highest-interest card. Once it is paid off, use the same strategy with the card that has the next-highest interest rate and so on until all your cards are paid off.\n*   **Use the debt snowball method.** You use the same general approach here as with the debt avalanche method, except you put the most each month toward the card with the lowest balance. While you'll typically save more money using the debt avalanche approach, if quick wins and seeing accounts paid off is important to you, this could be a good strategy.\n*   **Get a balance transfer credit card.** While it might seem counterintuitive to pay off debt with another form of debt, managed the right way, a balance transfer card can help you save money and pay off debt more quickly than you might otherwise. Balance transfer cards often offer no-interest introductory periods during which you can transfer balances from other cards and pay them off without paying interest. As long as you pay off the transferred balance before the intro period ends (and the higher standard interest rate kicks in), you could save a significant amount of money in interest. When you're deciding if this is a good option for you, keep in mind that most balance transfer cards typically require good to excellent credit for approval and charge a 3% to 5% fee on transfers. Experian CreditMatch™ may help you find a balance transfer card to suit your needs. END