Repay Debts or Save? How to protect and max your cash

Those with both debts and savings are seriously overspending. The solution is simple. Pay the debts off before you save, maybe even including your mortgage. Forget the old ‘must have an emergency savings fund' logic, getting rid of debts beats that too.

In this guide

• The raw basics
• Exceptions to the rule
• Dealing with emergencies
• Repay expensive debts first
• Related articles/discuss

Also read: Should I Pay Off My Student Loan?

Yes you heard, pay off debts with savings...

I can almost hear the dismay at this suggestion, “What? All we hear about is Britons don't save enough and, here I am, trying to do it and you say don't! What are you talking about man?” So let me explain the basic reasoning straight away, using this table…

£1,000 debtson a Credit card at 18%	The interest cost is: £180
£1,000 savings In a savings account at 2% after tax	The interest earned is: £20

Pay off the debt with the savings and you are £160 a year better off

It's that simple. Debts usually cost more than savings earn. Cancel them out and you're better off.

Why banks love us to save and have debts

Put most simply, when you save money you're actually lending your cash to the bank for it to lend on to other people. The difference between the rate at which it borrows money from you (the savings rate) and the rate it charges others (the borrowing rate) is its profit. Therefore, on the whole, it'll always cost more to borrow than you can earn by saving.

This is why I find it deeply frustrating that many people have both borrowings and savings at the same time, often with the same bank. Effectively it is lending you back the money you lent it, except charging you much more. Ridiculous!

Think about this, it's actually quite shocking. I once made a speech to the Building Society Association conference, which was puffing out its chest at how much better than banks they were.

So I asked how many of their savings managers' salaries were based on the value of savings they brought in. Many were. Then I questioned how many got the branch staff to ask people opening savings accounts if they had debts. Not one!

The exceptions to the rule

The rule is based on the fact that the cost of debt is usually much higher than the benefit gained from savings. Therefore your pocket gains more by getting rid of the debt than starting to save.

The exceptions are in the few occasions when debts are cheaper than savings, or cost so much to pay off that there's no point:

• The penalty exception. If you're locked into the debt, so that paying it off incurs a penalty, as with some loans or mortgages, then leave the cash sitting in a savings account until the penalty's small enough that it doesn't matter.

  More details on loan lock-ins are in the Cut the Cost of Existing Loans guide.

• The interest-free / very cheap debt exception. Debts cost. Yet those who carefully and conscientiously manage their debts so they're constantly interest-free should follow the opposite logic.

  If the interest rate on your debt is less than the amount your savings earn after tax then, providing you're financially disciplined, you can profit from building up savings and keep the debts. In effect, you're being paid on money lent to you by the banks for nothing.

  There are a number of products where this is possible: introductory 0% credit card offers (see Best Balance Transfers and Purchases Cards), 0% overdrafts (see Best Bank Accounts, Student Account and Graduate Account articles) and Student Loans (see Should I Pay Off My Student Loan?).

Surely it's worth having an emergency fund?

Emotionally, many will find what I'm about to say difficult to deal with. The idea of having some cash in a savings pot feels safe, especially as traditional budgeting logic berates us to always have an ‘emergency cash fund'.

I disagree. It's a must-do aim for the debt-free, but for anyone with expensive debts – particularly on credit cards – it's silly.

The right thing to do is still pay off your debts with savings, including your emergency fund. Yet don't cut up your credit cards, it's important to keep the credit available in case of a substantial emergency (and substantial means just that, your roof falls in or you can't feed the kids; not a new plasma TV).

So overall, whether an emergency happens or not, the best result is to pay off your debts with your savings. The only time to beware of this is if you're not assured of being able to reborrow the cash.

Usually with credit cards it's fine, as they're a readily available source of credit, but if your debt is a personal loan, there's no guarantee you will be able to get another – in which case an emergency fund is sensible.

The disciplined exception

Those making a concerted effort to repay serious debts may find the idea of reusing credit cards a real danger. Yet while it isn't a sensible strategy to have an emergency fund, as there's no guarantee you'll ever need it, there is some justification for making small savings provisions for specific future events.

For example, saving a small amount each month towards Christmas, (see budgeting article) for those who can't trust themselves to stick to the limit on credit cards, is a sensible personal financial strategy. Yet keep it to limited amounts of cash.

Should you pay off mortgage with savings?

Many people don't think of their mortgage as a debt, yet of course it is. However the key difference is mortgages are usually at a much cheaper rate and less flexible.

£10,000 mortgage debtat 5%	The interest cost is: £500
£10,000 savings at 2% after tax	The interest earned is: £200

Pay off the debt with the savings and you are £300 a year better off

In this case the difference between debt and savings is much smaller, but you're still better off using the savings to clear your mortgage debt. And remember the above assumes you're with the Top Savings Account, which sadly most people aren't.

Yet there are a number of exceptions and hurdles to this, for full details, including a specially designed calculator, read the Should I Pay Off My Mortgage? guide.

Pay off the most expensive debts first

Sadly, many people have much more debt than savings. So even if you use all your cash to pay them off, you'll still have debts left. Therefore, it's important you prioritise using your savings to get rid of the most expensive debts.

Before you do this, check to see if you can lower any of your debts' interest rates.

• For credit and store cards read Best Balance Transfers
• If you get rejected for new credit then you can still cut rates using The Credit Card Shuffle
• If you have a loan read Cut the Cost of Existing Loans
• For cutting costs on your mortgage read the Remortgage Guide

Once your debts are as cheap as they can be, list where they are and the amount of debt that you have. Then use your savings (or spare cash) to pay off the most costly debts first. All this done together should massively reduce your costs.