The holidays are over, but the instalments remain. What should you check in your loans and cards in Norway?

<ul> <li>Unused credit card limits may affect your creditworthiness assessment.<\/li> <li>The minimum card repayment can significantly extend the debt repayment period and increase its cost.<\/li> <li>It is worth adding up all instalments, limits and the effective interest rates on your obligations.<\/li> <li>Refinancing may reduce costs, but you should check the total amount payable and the repayment period.<\/li> <\/ul>

It is not that every credit card or instalment purchase is bad. The problem begins when we no longer know how many obligations we have, what they cost and how long we will be repaying them.

After the holidays, it is therefore worth carrying out a simple review of your finances. Before you consider another loan, first check what you already have.

You have a credit card with a limit of NOK 100,000, but you have not used any of it. You might think that since the balance is zero, the card does not matter.

For the bank, it does not always look the same.

When assessing your borrowing capacity, the bank also takes into account the limits granted on cards and other revolving credit facilities. It must assume that the available limit may be used.

That is why several unused cards with high limits can worsen the assessment of your situation, especially before applying for a larger loan. You do not have to close every card. However, it is worth checking whether you still need it and whether the limit is unnecessarily high.

Sometimes it is enough to reduce it.

A credit card is convenient as long as the bill is paid in full and on time. It becomes expensive when an interest-bearing balance remains on it.

Suppose that after the holidays you receive a bill for NOK 30,000. You do not have the full amount, so you pay only the required minimum. Formally, everything is in order, but the remaining debt starts to cost money.

Forbrukerrådet presented an example of NOK 50,000 in credit card debt with an effective interest rate of 25%. If only minimum amounts were repaid, the debt could take almost 15 years to repay, and the total amount paid exceeded NOK 137,000.

Not every card has the same terms. However, this example clearly shows why it is not enough to look at the amount due this month.

The more important question is: <strong>how much will it cost to repay the entire debt, and when will it actually be paid off?<\/strong>

A phone for NOK 599 a month. Furniture for NOK 800. Electronics for NOK 450. On top of that, a “pay later” payment and a cash loan instalment.

Individually, none of these amounts looks alarming. Together, they may take NOK 2,000–3,000 a month before you have even paid for housing, a car, food and your credit card.

Even a 0% instalment affects your budget. It may be beneficial if there are genuinely no additional fees, but for the coming months part of your salary is already committed.

That is why it is a good idea to gather all instalments in one place and add them up. Many people know the amount of their large loan but forget about several smaller obligations.

The bank does not only check whether you are managing today.

In Norway, total debt should generally not exceed five times annual income. However, this is only one of the conditions.

The bank also analyses living costs, other loans, card limits and how much money remains after all obligations have been paid. It then checks whether the budget could withstand an interest rate increase of 3 percentage points. In such a test, an interest rate of no less than 7% is assumed.

That is why you may earn well, pay instalments regularly and still not receive another loan. The bank assesses not only the current situation, but also what will happen if costs rise.

At the beginning of September 2026, the Norges Bank policy rate is 4.25%. The average interest rate on new mortgages in July was slightly above 5%. Credit cards and consumer loans can cost considerably more, which is why they often put the greatest strain on the household budget.

It can, especially if you have several expensive cards and loans. Combining them into one cheaper loan can reduce interest costs, organise repayment and replace several due dates with one instalment.

But a lower instalment does not always mean a better offer.

If the instalment decreases because the interest rate is lower, that is good news. If it falls mainly because the repayment period has been extended from 4 to 10 years, you may pay less each month but more overall.

When refinancing, check three things: <ul> <li>the effective interest rate,<\/li> <li>the repayment period,<\/li> <li>the total amount payable.<\/li> <\/ul>

It is also worth being careful with old cards. If refinancing pays off their debt and the limits are used again, you may end up with both a new loan and new credit card debt at the same time.

Refinancing makes sense when it helps you get out of more expensive debt, rather than simply freeing up room for further purchases.

To start with, four things are enough: <ol> <li>How much you have left to repay in total.<\/li> <li>How much all your instalments amount to each month combined.<\/li> <li>What the effective interest rates are on your loans and cards.<\/li> <li>What limits your cards have, including the unused ones.<\/li> <\/ol>

Do you not remember all your loans and cards? You can check them in one place by logging in to <strong><a href="https:\/\/www.gjeldsmonitor.no\/pl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GjeldsMonitor<\/a><\/strong>. The service is free and available in Polish.

Only when you see the full picture is it easier to decide whether it is worth repaying the most expensive debt faster, reducing the limit on an unused card or exploring the possibility of refinancing.

<strong>First see what you have. Then decide what to do with it.<\/strong>

<ol> <li>Ministry of Finance<\/li> <li>Norges Bank<\/li> <li>Statistics Norway<\/li> <li>Gjeldsregisteret<\/li> <li>Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway<\/li> <li>Forbrukerrådet<\/li> <li>Finansportalen<\/li> <\/ol> Market data current as of 2 September 2026.