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If you’re like many Americans, you may carry thousands of dollars of credit card debt. A recent analysis by TransUnion^® found that the average citizen has $6,473 in debt as of mid-2025. While getting out from under debt may seem daunting, there are ways to make it manageable.

Here’s a look at different strategies for paying off a large chunk of debt; specifically, $10,000. In addition to tactics for eliminating debt, you’ll learn why doing so is important, which can help boost your motivation.

Why Paying off Credit Card Debt Is Important

In an ideal world, you would pay off your credit card every month in full. If you’re able to do that, using a credit card (responsibly) can be a good thing. It’s actually a pretty useful way to build credit and gain credit card rewards.

However, when you start to carry monthly credit card debt, things can get a bit dicey, because you’ll start to pay interest.

When you signed up for your credit card, you probably noticed that it came with an annual percentage rate (APR). The APR includes not only the approximate percentage of interest that you’ll likely pay on your credit card balance, but also fees associated with your credit card, such as origination fees or balance transfer fees.

Even if you make minimum payments, interest will still accrue on the balance you owe. The more money you owe, the quicker your interest payments can add up and the harder your debt can be to pay off. The fact that credit cards typically charge high interest rates (the current average interest rate is just over 24% as of November 2025) is part of what you’re grappling with.

So strategies that help you pay down debt as fast as you can also might help you control your interest rates. That, in turn, can help keep your debt from getting ahead of you.

To illustrate some of the debt-demolishing tips in this article, the nice round number of $10,000 is being used. But everyone’s debt totals will be different, and the right ways to pay down debt will be different for everyone as well. It’s up to you to find the path that’s best for your needs.

Avoiding Adding to Your Debt

If tackling $10,000 in credit card debt, or really any amount of credit card debt, the very first step might be to stop using credit cards altogether. This can be tough, especially if you’re used to using them all the time. But if you keep spending on your card, you’ll be adding to your debt. While you get your debt under control, you could consider switching over to only using cash or your debit card.

Building a Budget

Making a budget may help you find extra cash to help you pay down your credit cards. You can start by making a list of all your necessary expenses, including housing, utilities, transportation, insurance, and groceries.

It’s usually a good idea to include minimum credit card payments in this category as well, since making minimum payments can at least keep you from having to pay additional penalties and fees on top of your credit card balance and interest payments.

You can tally up the cost of your necessary expenses and subtract the total from your income. What’s left is the money available for discretionary spending, or in other words, the money you’d use for savings, eating out, entertainment, etc. Look for discretionary expenses you can cut — you might forgo a vacation or start cooking more — so you can direct extra money to paying down your credit card.

Consider using any extra windfalls — such as a bonus at work, a tax refund, or a cash birthday gift — to help you pay down your debt as well.

Though it may seem frustrating to cut out activities you enjoy doing, it can be helpful to remember that these cuts are likely temporary. As soon as you pay off your cards, you can add reasonable discretionary expenditures back into your budget.

The Debt Avalanche Method

Once you’ve identified the money you’ll use to pay off your cards, there are a couple of strategies that may be worth considering to help organize your payments. If you have multiple credit cards that each carry a balance, you could consider the debt avalanche method. The first step when using this strategy is to order your credit card debts from the highest interest rate to the lowest.

From there, you’d make minimum payments on all of your cards to avoid additional penalties and fees. Then, you could direct extra payments to the card with the highest interest rates first. When that card is paid off, you’d focus on the next highest card and so on until you’d paid off all of your debt.

The idea here is that higher interest rates end up costing you more money over the long run, so clearing the highest rates saves you cash and accelerates your ability to pay off your other debts.

The Debt Snowball Method

Another strategy potentially worth considering if you have multiple credit cards is the snowball method. With this method, you’d order your debts from smallest to largest balance. You would then make minimum payments on all of your cards here as well, but direct any extra payments to paying off the smallest balance first.

Once that’s done, you’d move on to the card with the next lowest balance, continuing this process until you have all of your cards paid off. By paying off your smallest debt you get an immediate win. Ideally, this small win would help you build momentum and stay motivated to keep going.

The drawback of this method is you continue making interest payments on your highest rate loans. So you may actually end up spending more money on interest using this method than you would using the avalanche method.

Only you know what type of motivation works best for you. If the sense of accomplishment you feel from paying off your small balances will help inspire you to actually pay your debt off, then this method may be the right choice for you.

Consolidate Your Debt

Interest rates on credit cards can be hefty to say the least. Personal loans can help you consolidate your credit card debt and potentially pay a lower interest rate. With a personal loan, you can consolidate all of your credit cards into one loan, instead of managing multiple credit card payments.

Once you’ve used your personal loan to consolidate your credit card debt, you’ll still be responsible for paying off the loan. However, you’ll no longer have to juggle multiple debts. And hopefully, with a lower interest rate and shorter term, you’ll actually be able to pay your debt off faster.

Recommended: Personal Loan Interest Rates

The Takeaway

The average American carries several thousand dollars in credit card debt. If you are trying to pay down this kind of high-interest debt, try budgeting, debt payoff methods like the avalanche and snowball techniques, or consolidating debt with a personal loan.

Think twice before turning to high-interest credit cards. Consider a SoFi personal loan instead. SoFi offers competitive fixed rates and same-day funding. See your rate in minutes.

FAQ

How long does it take to pay off $10,000 in credit card debt?

There’s no set amount of time for how long it can take to pay off $10k in credit card debt. The timing will depend on whether you pay the minimum amount or more per month and what your interest rate is. The debt could be paid off in a couple of months or many years.

What is the 2/3/4 rule for credit cards?

The 2/3/4 credit card rule is a guideline that says a person can only get a maximum of two new cards in a 30-day period, three new cards in a 12-month period, and four new cards in a 24-month period.

How many people have $10,000 in credit card debt?

According to one study in 2025, one in four Americans who carry credit card balances has $10,000 or more in credit card debt.

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SOPL-Q425-036

A married put is an options trading strategy wherein an investor holding an asset purchases a put option to help protect against a potential drop in the asset’s price. For this reason, it’s also called a protective put.

This options strategy may help reduce exposure to sharp declines in the underlying asset price. You can calculate your maximum profit, maximum loss, and breakeven with a married put strategy.

What Is a Married Put?

A married put is an options strategy in which you hold or buy shares of an asset and purchase a put option (typically one that’s at-the-money) to help limit losses from a potential decline in the asset price.

You might execute a married put strategy when you are concerned about a potentially significant downward move in the asset price over the short run, but you want to own the asset for a longer timeframe.

Recommended: How to Trade Options

How Does a Married Put Work?

A married put may help reduce exposure to a decrease in the price of an asset. With a married put, you are still exposed to a loss, but losses are limited based on the strike price and the premium paid.

At the same time, a married put allows you to participate in upside in the underlying asset since the most you can lose with the put option is the premium paid on the option, while your long asset position has unlimited upside.

At-the-money put options can be expensive insurance. The premium you pay for the downside protection can make the strategy cost-prohibitive. Put option pricing depends on many variables, such as underlying price, time to expiration, interest rates, dividends, and implied volatility. The sensitivities to these factors are known as the options Greeks. A married put options strategy may work well during periods of lower implied volatility.

One of the main advantages of a married put options strategy is that you retain unlimited upside potential since you are long the asset and the most you can lose on the put option is the premium paid on that option.

Breakeven

Broadly, a married put’s breakeven point is the adjusted cost basis per share plus the premium paid to acquire the put option. The asset must rise by more than the amount of the premium for the strategy to exhibit gains.

Recommended: Call vs. Put Options: The Differences

Maximum Loss

This is a key feature of the married put strategy. The maximum loss is the cost of the asset minus the put option’s strike price, plus the premium paid. The most you can lose with a married put is limited.

Married Put Example

It is helpful to run through a married put example to show the benefits and downsides of this options strategy. This can help when comparing it against other options strategies.

Let’s say you want to own shares of a stock currently priced at $100. You buy 100 shares for a total of $10,000 and an at-the-money put option contract (with a strike of $100) for $5. Each option contract covers 100 shares, so the total premium is $500.

Your breakeven is $105. That is the per-share cost of the stock plus the premium paid. If the stock is unchanged at the expiration of the options contract, you would have a loss of $5 on the strategy. (Note that this doesn’t take transaction costs into account.)

Your maximum profit is unlimited since the stock has no upside cap. If the stock rallies to $120 by expiration, you would have a $15 gain. While the maximum profit is unlimited, it will be lower than if you’d purchased only the shares due to the cost of the put.

Your maximum loss is $5 per share, the put option premium, when the strike price equals the purchase price. In this example, your maximum loss occurs at or below the strike price of $100. You can close the trade by selling the stock and selling-to-close the option. Alternatively, you can sell-to-close the put or let it expire (if out-of-the-money) and continue to hold the stock.

💡 Quick Tip: Options can be a cost-efficient way to place certain trades, because you typically purchase options contracts, not the underlying security. That said, trading options online can be risky, and best done by those who are not entirely new to investing.

Pros and Cons of Married Puts

Married Puts vs Covered Call

Strategies Similar to Married Puts

There are several options trading strategies similar to married puts. Let’s investigate those.

Protective Puts

A married put options strategy is also referred to as a protective put strategy. The difference is that you already own the asset with a protective put trade. With a married put, you simultaneously buy the asset and a put.

Long Calls

A married put behaves similarly to a long call. You own the asset with a married put strategy, but a long call position does not entail owning the underlying shares. Long calls differ from naked calls since you buy-to-open a call option contract in a long call strategy, while you sell-to-open calls without owning the underlying shares in a naked call play.

Call Backspreads

A call backspread is a bullish options strategy wherein you sell lower-strike calls and buy a greater number of higher-strike calls at the same expiration on the same asset. A call backspread offers unlimited upside. You would execute this complex options strategy when you are extremely bullish on a volatile asset. Call backspreads are also known as call ratio backspreads.

The Takeaway

A married put options strategy is when you purchase an at-the-money put option on an underlying asset you already own or are simultaneously purchasing. It is a way to help limit risk when you own shares in a company.

Adding a married put raises the position’s cost basis and breakeven, and the put could expire worthless if the stock price finishes above the strike. This approach may suit buyers who want exposure to a stock with defined downside during a set period, understanding that these outcomes depend on volatility, time to expiration, and transaction costs.

SoFi’s options trading platform offers qualified investors the flexibility to pursue income generation, manage risk, and use advanced trading strategies. Investors may buy put and call options or sell covered calls and cash-secured puts to speculate on the price movements of stocks, all through a simple, intuitive interface.

With SoFi Invest® online options trading, there are no contract fees and no commissions. Plus, SoFi offers educational support — including in-app coaching resources, real-time pricing, and other tools to help you make informed decisions, based on your tolerance for risk.

FAQ

Is a married put the same as a covered put?

A covered put is the opposite of a married put in that you are short the underlying asset and also short a put option. With a married put, however, you are long the underlying asset and also long a put option.

A married put may be a good strategy if you are seeking a measure of protection on an underlying asset you own. It is a bullish strategy used if you are worried about potential near-term risks in the asset. By owning a protective put, you may help reduce downside risk while still being able to participate in asset price appreciation. You have the right to receive dividends and participate in shareholder votes by owning the stock, too. The downside is that you must pay a premium to own the put option.

What is the difference between puts and calls in options trading?

Puts and calls are two option types. Puts give the holder the right but not the obligation to sell shares of an asset at a specific price and at a specified time. Calls give the holder the right but not the obligation to buy shares of an asset at a specified price and time.

Photo credit: iStock/Renata Angerami