It’s time to fact the facts. You have overspent on your credit cards and are experiencing trouble paying for your balances. You know you need help to get out of debt or you wouldn’t be reading this right now.
Well, lucky for you, there are many steps you can take to release yourself from credit card debt. It will be painful for you, especially if you have gone overboard with all the luxuries in life, but it will be all worth it. Indeed, your efforts will be rewarded when you find it easy to get that home mortgage or car loan, and that you are enjoying relatively low interests as compared to others.
Step 1: How much do you really owe in credit cards?
The first thing you need to do is to analyze your total credit card debt. Compile all outstanding balances from your credit cards, and acquire the grand total for everything. Did you ever realize that you owe that much?
Step 2: Analyze your income and monthly expenses
It’s about time you know exactly where your money is going to! Based on your monthly income, determine the amount of money you are spending in each area – food, rentals, utilities, gas, entertainment, etc. Wherever possible, limit your expenses in each of these areas and eliminate unnecessary expenditure such as dining out, clothing or your gym membership.
It may be a reality that your current income may be insufficient to support your lifestyle, in which drastic adjustments need to be made. In the event you don’t have anything left even after you have reduced expenses, perhaps it is time to get a second job for a period until you get back on your feet.
Step 3: Make allocations for credit card payment
After you have deducted your expenses from your income, you should have some money left to pay off your credit card debt. It’s always easier if you pay off the credit cards with the higher interest rates first. This way, you will be plugging the larger hole first that is leaking money from your pocket.
Step 4: Stop charging to your credit cards
If you can’t stop yourself, just cut up your credit cards to stop altogether. Just leave two cards with minimum interest charges for emergency purposes only. This way, you won’t be piling up more debt on yourself, but rather just concentrating on reducing your outstanding balances.
Other debt reduction measures
If your debt is huge, you may want to consider other measures such as balance transfer to a 0% APR credit card. This way, you get to save on interest charges and get to pay off your balances gradually over the introductory 0% APR period. Another alternative is to get a debt consolidation loan and consolidate all your credit card debt under one loan. With the lower interest rates from a debt consolidation loan, you won’t have to bear the high interests while you pay off your loan.
Alan Bernstein recommends Find Credit Cards to apply for a First Premier credit card today.
