74% of travelers didn’t pay off last summer’s credit card balance right away. Here’s how to tackle vacation debt

Summer may be unofficially over, but if you charged a vacation to a credit card, the debt may still be lingering.

In fact, just 26% of 2025 summer travelers who put their travel expenses on a credit card paid off the balance with their first statement, while more than a third still hadn't paid off what they charged even months after, according to a NerdWallet survey conducted in February 2026.

Here's how to pay off this year's lingering summer vacation debt before it follows you into next summer.

Paying off debt while interest keeps piling on can make even steady payments feel like they're going nowhere. But a 0% APR balance transfer card helps solve that problem for a while by moving your existing debt to a new card that charges no interest for an introductory period, usually 12 to 21 months.

A balance transfer card can help make a dent in your debt for good. With the Wells Fargo Reflect, for example, cardholders have one of the longest introductory APR periods on both purchases and qualifying balance transfers.

The Citi Double Cash also offers an introductory APR on balance transfers, and it's a top-rated cash-back credit card that earns cash back as Citi ThankYou® Points, which gives you access to Citi's travel partners.

To minimize how much you pay in transfer fees, the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card charges just 3% (minimum $5; after that, your fee will be 5% of each transfer) on transfers completed within the first four months.

The key with balance transfer cards is to make sure you pay off your transferred debt before the introductory period ends. At that point, interest kicks in again.

If you can't qualify for a balance transfer card, a debt consolidation loan can help as it rolls your multiple credit card balances into one loan with a fixed (ideally lower) rate and monthly payment.

Avant only requires a 550 FICO® Score to qualify, making it accessible if your credit card debt has hurt your credit score. If your vacation debt is more of a smaller, one-off balance than a mountain of it, Upstart offers loans starting as low as $1,000, so you're not stuck borrowing more than you actually need. Achieve offers repayment terms from two to five years, plus a rate discount if you let the lender pay your creditors directly.

With debt consolidation loans, watch out for origination fees, prepayment penalties and rates that end up higher than what you're paying now if your credit isn't strong.

If your repayment plan keeps slipping, not because the strategy is wrong but because it's hard to stay consistent, a budgeting app can help close that gap. These apps track balances, model payoff dates and send reminders.

Rocket Money offers a free version that helps you track your bills as well as trim spending on subscriptions, making it easier to pay off summer debt. If you want a budgeting app to help you moving forward, PocketGuard notifies you whenever you're approaching your limit in a spending category, so you catch it before it turns into another balance. Or if you want every dollar working toward a specific goal, like your payoff plan, You Need a Budget (YNAB) uses a zero-based system that assigns every dollar a job until the debt is gone. If the real goal is making sure this doesn't happen again next summer, Goodbudget's envelope-style budgeting is a straightforward way to start setting aside money for future trips instead of charging them.

To find a budgeting app that's actually worth using, compare apps on cost, how well they sync with your accounts, privacy practices and whether they include a payoff calculator. They won't lower your interest or replace an actual plan, so they work best paired with one of the strategies above.

When minimum payments start competing with rent or groceries, none of the above may be enough on their own. A nonprofit credit counselor can review your full financial picture and, if it makes sense, set up a debt management plan, negotiating lower rates with your creditors in exchange for one consolidated monthly payment.

Organizations like the Financial Counseling Association of America (FCAA) and the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) can connect you with an accredited member agency near you and offer free or low-cost initial counseling sessions before you commit to anything.

To avoid getting scammed by a bad actor posing as a counselor, stick to reputable nonprofits and watch for red flags like upfront fees, guarantees to erase your debt or advice to stop talking to your creditors.

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