March 7th, 2009 by Peter de Vizard

If you have large credit card debt, as so many people do, you should know that the longer you carry a balance from month to month, the more you will end up paying off, and the more troubled your financial outlook will become.

For some, it may seem impossible to get rid of the debt, but if you go about it the right way, you can get rid of it once and for all.

The first thing you have to do is decide that you really going to make an effort to change, regardless of how difficult it may seem. Once you set your mind to being credit card free, you will have the determination needed to get yourself out of this debt quagmire. It will take time, persistence and control plus an understanding that it wont an “instant fix”

Once you have made your decision to get rid of your credit card debt, the first thing you should do close your open cards, so you aren’t tempted to use them, thus accumulating even more debt. Even using your credit card to pay for a $3.00 meal at lunch can end up costing you ten times that much in interest.

It’s better to get rid of those cards, and resist that temptation for good. Shred the cards up, or put them somewhere in the house where you can’t get them easily. Maybe only in use of emergency, and the craving for a Starbucks Frappachino is not an emergency!

When you get your monthly credit card statements, aim to pay at least twice the minimum payment due on each card, more if you can squeeze it into your budget, The faster the amount owed goes down, the less you pay in interest per month.

Credit card lenders make their money off of interest and other fees they charge, so you have to really work at those balances, even if it means doing without something to make a larger payment. You may not see a significant difference at first, but with several payments that are on time and considerably more than what is due, you will start to see those balances come down.

Once you get used to paying more than the minimum payments due, you should take the time to compare the interest rates on all of your cards, and push all the extra money you can into the card that has the highest rate. When that balance is paid in full, divert that money to the card with the next highest rate, and so on, until you are clean of all the debt..

It’s a long-shot, but some of the larger credit card lenders do have programs that can help cardholders payoff their accounts at a reduced rate. Just read the fine print, follow the terms closely, because in most cases, if you make one late payment, you are dropped from the program. All the interest and fees resume on the account. If that happens, you will quickly lose any ground that you may have gained.

By making the decision to get rid of your credit card debt, and working towards your goals, you can see the light at the end of the debt tunnel; it just may take you some time to reach it! You can do it if remain committed, put the effort in and have your family and friends on board. Try to imagine how it feel to be free of the pain once you have got rid of your credit card debt.

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March 4th, 2009 by PJ Easton

Credit card debt can create a large amount of stress in your life. It can break families, hurt marriages and generally make life painful. Sometimes quick decisions like this can create problems for years for years to come. Here a 4 simple ways to get started in getting rid of the debt:

1. Cut up the cards! – Very simple steps you can do right now, you have to stop any increase of the debt. At the same time you have to commit to not getting any more cards. You have to be able to look at your position so you can see a way out. If the debt still increases while you are trying to reduce it, it becomes a vicious circle of pain

2. Get rid of what you don’t need- that’s right sell it! Have a yard sale, a garage sale, and ebay sale but make it move! Anything to move stuff you don’t need any more. Get the whole family involved, make it a game. Even you only make few dollars, make sure it all goes to reducing your debt.

3. Set up a debt repayment plan- Use the bank to set up automatic payments into your card, a set amount every time you get paid. This way you can set and forget it and know that an amount is set up every time you get paid, and it will be paid with you having to take any action.

4. Reduce out goings- Reduce how much you spend- this means instead of buying that daily meal at Starbucks, could you make something more healthy and take it with you? This means you will have to more organized. At the same time, you have to commit to putting aside the money you would have spent, otherwise you will find the money disappearing and you wont know where its gone.

Its is important to learn the lesson of what happened to get you the position you are in and also look at the changes you have to make as the result of your own actions. Your accountability, from your actions- yours to fix, not the city, the countries or anyone else- your actions to fix it.

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