The average American has over $8000 in credit card debt. Making minimum payments and not accumulating any more debt, it would take you 30 years to pay off the card and thousands more in interest. That’s why an important part of any family budget is to reduce and pay off that debt as soon as possible. Here are some ideas to get you on a road of no more credit card debt.
Fewer Cards
Your first goal in reducing your credit card debt is to avoid accumulating more debt while you work on paying the current debt off. After all, what good does it do you to pay $200 toward your credit card and then use it to make another $200 purchase. A good way to avoid using your cards is to get rid off most of them. If you have a current balance owed on the card and it isn’t feasible to transfer the debt to an account with a lower interest rate, simply cut up the cards to avoid using them again. Close the credit card account as soon as you have paid it off.
Your ultimate goal will be to only have one or two credit cards for online purchases and emergencies. You will only be using it for non-emergency purchases that you know you can pay off within 30 days.
Freeze Your Assets
Most of us like to keep at least one or two credit cards around for emergencies. The problem is we end up using the cards to buy a new pair of shoes, take our spouse out to dinner or buy that new TV we really want. If you are prone to these types of impulse buys on the credit card, try freezing them.
Yes, I am serious. Take a gallon sized Ziploc bag, drop your credit card in it and fill the bag with water. Stick the bag in the freezer. Within a few hours your credit card will be encased in a block of ice, making it less convenient to just grab it and buy something. At the same time you know you can thaw it out in a few hours if you really need it.
No More Impulse Buys
How many times to you go to the store with a particular item in mind and end up buying a few extra things you didn’t even know you couldn’t live without? I’m taking about impulse buys.
We go to the grocery store and are presented with all sorts of special deals and easy grab-and-go offers at the end of isles and at the cash register. We go to the mall to buy a white sweater and end up with a pair of earrings or new boots as well.
Storeowners have figured out exactly how to push our buying buttons and get us to purchase items on impulse that they know they couldn’t sell us if we took a moment to think about it.
Before you make a purchase, take a moment and consider if you really need this now. For larger purchases sleep over it. You’ll be surprised how many deals don’t look quite as good anymore the next morning.
$20 Is All It Takes
We’ve talked at length about how to cut down on spending and using your credit card, now it’s time to start paying off the debt you currently have. All it takes is $20 to get you started. Of course if you can come up with an extra $100 or even more, go for it.
At the very least I want you to come up with an extra $20 a month and add it to what you are currently paying toward paying off your credit card. Start with the card that has the highest interest rate. If you are currently paying about $100 a month toward that card, increase it to $120 until the card is paid off. Then use those $120 a month and add them to what you are currently paying toward your next card. Can you see how quickly this can add up and get you out of debt – especially once you have the first card paid off? By consistently doing this you can be out of credit card debt for good in a few years.
debt relief
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Taking Care Of Personal Debt
Throughout your life you’re the history of you credit repayment will follow you. One of the best way to build a credit history is by using credit cards, and paying them overtime so creditors see you are able to make payments. One of the best means of building a no credit history into a positive one is to apply for a car loan. However, if you’ve never borrowed money from a bank or used a credit card, you do not have an established credit history; this will make it difficult in getting a loan. To establish a personal credit history, it is essential to keep the credit history outstanding, this will lead to financial success, this will also help if you have a desire to start a small business.
An alarming percentage of students and young people are already more than $10,000 in credit card debt and to complicate things even further, many of these students have yet to start earning a stable income. Your credit report will not actually echo all your credit accounts, even if most of the department stores and bank credit card accounts are included in your file, some are not. Some that are not included are those from the local retailers, gasoline card companies and credit unions. The downside is that card issuers realize that most students do not have a particular credit strategy in mind, just a desire for easy access to credit. People who have good credit usually don’t have a problem getting offers from credit cards and normally the approval process is very easy. If you have no credit or bad credit it is very hard for consumers to get approved for any type of credit card, to get approved takes a lot of effort.
Everyone needs a personal line of credit. For those just starting out in the world of credit it is important to learn how to build and maintain their personal credit. Building your business credit will be completely different from how you build your personal credit rate.
A business credit profile will help you to build business credit without using your personal credit. Don't get me wrong it has always been important to have good credit if you want to buy a car, a house, rent an apartment, or be approved for personal loans or credit cards. Having a credit history makes it far easier to obtain utilities like gas, electricity and phone services in your personal residence.
What is refinancing, refinancing is when the person in debt will take another loan to pay off the existing debt or loan. When you feel that you have finally come to the point in time where you cannot continue with the payments and you feel it is time to make a change the best approach is debt consolidation, this is an excellent way of consolidating your debt and eventually paying it off. Debt creeps up on many people and before you know it you are not able to manage your debts.
Debt consolidation services help the person to overcome the problem of unmanageable debts through a single monthly payment. Many entrepreneurs operate their business trying to stay completely out of debt because all of our lives we have been taught that debt is bad.
advice
An alarming percentage of students and young people are already more than $10,000 in credit card debt and to complicate things even further, many of these students have yet to start earning a stable income. Your credit report will not actually echo all your credit accounts, even if most of the department stores and bank credit card accounts are included in your file, some are not. Some that are not included are those from the local retailers, gasoline card companies and credit unions. The downside is that card issuers realize that most students do not have a particular credit strategy in mind, just a desire for easy access to credit. People who have good credit usually don’t have a problem getting offers from credit cards and normally the approval process is very easy. If you have no credit or bad credit it is very hard for consumers to get approved for any type of credit card, to get approved takes a lot of effort.
Everyone needs a personal line of credit. For those just starting out in the world of credit it is important to learn how to build and maintain their personal credit. Building your business credit will be completely different from how you build your personal credit rate.
A business credit profile will help you to build business credit without using your personal credit. Don't get me wrong it has always been important to have good credit if you want to buy a car, a house, rent an apartment, or be approved for personal loans or credit cards. Having a credit history makes it far easier to obtain utilities like gas, electricity and phone services in your personal residence.
What is refinancing, refinancing is when the person in debt will take another loan to pay off the existing debt or loan. When you feel that you have finally come to the point in time where you cannot continue with the payments and you feel it is time to make a change the best approach is debt consolidation, this is an excellent way of consolidating your debt and eventually paying it off. Debt creeps up on many people and before you know it you are not able to manage your debts.
Debt consolidation services help the person to overcome the problem of unmanageable debts through a single monthly payment. Many entrepreneurs operate their business trying to stay completely out of debt because all of our lives we have been taught that debt is bad.
advice
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