Ways To Get Rid of Credit Card Debt

I know a thing or two about how to get rid of credit card debt. I lived with credit card debt for years, lost my job and have had to scrimp and save and pay down what I could when I could. There’s no secret to it, but there is some good old fashioned common sense.

First, get whatever credit card debt you’ve already accrued transferred to the lowest available interest card. Fortunately for me, I’ve had good credit my entire life, so I was always able to find new credit cards that offered 0% percent interest on balance transfers for anywhere from twelve to eighteen months. This means that what debt I’d already accrued wasn’t sitting there growing larger while I couldn’t do anything about it.

This is an important first step in the quest to get rid of credit card debt, since the slower the debt you do have grows, the faster you’ll be able to pay it off. Almost sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?

Also, if you can’t get a zero percent interest rate, then don’t be afraid to ask for a lower interest rate on what it is you owe. Be proactive in calling the banks that hold your cards, and tell them you’re trying to get rid of credit card debt. Their goal is to have you pay as much as you can every month, too, so you should find them easy to work with (even if it’s not going to be easy to settle with them on what specific interest rate your debt should be at).

Once you’ve done that, it’s time to focus on whichever debt is the easiest to pay off first. You need to choose one at a time and eliminate it. You can do this by only making the minimum payments on your other debts, then using what you have left over to tackle the one that you’ve determined needs to go first. As I said, I’d tend to go for the smallest one first or the one with the highest interest rate, but really, it’s up to you. Just getting the ball rolling to get rid of credit card debt is a great first step.

Once you’re doing that, it’s time to create a budget and cut your spending. You may have to switch cell phone providers or stop texting. You may have to switch from steak to chicken, or you may have to give up your weekly night at the favorite restaurant and make it a bi-weekly night. Or even a monthly night. You may have to switch from your favorite imported beer to your favorite domestic beer.

Either way, you need to calculate how much money you’re taking in, how much money is going out, and where you can cut into that second number as much as possible.

Follow those steps and you’ll be able to get rid of credit card debt fast.

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Comments

2 Responses to “Ways To Get Rid of Credit Card Debt”

Tips to get rid of debt on March 2nd, 2010 1:56 am

Very informative post. Getting rid of debt is something that many of us sincerely don’t endeavor to achieve. According to me once we get motivated to pay up our debt, there’s nothing that can come in your way. On the other hand adequate financial resources is also very important. To get more info on this refer http://www.prime-targeting.com/three-golden-tips-to-get-rid-of-debt/
mitdrissia on March 23rd, 2010 1:31 am

Great tip and informative blog to reduce or even completely wipeout your debt.

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