When thinking about financial troubles, it is common to gravitate towards thinking about having major credit card debt. With that being said, it is also just as common that individuals will have a poor credit score and as such will look for ways to rid themselves of this type of debt.
Fortunately, there are several methods of reducing credit card balances and certain strategies can be most effective for certain borrowers. All it takes is finding the right place to start.
Here are 4 ways to dig yourself out of credit card debt – now.
1. STOP using your Credit Cards
Of course, if you want to lower your credit card debt, the most straightforward approach is to stop using your cards altogether. While this may be difficult as you have heavily relied on them in the past to make purchases, however if you are wracking up credit card debt on these cards, without being able to pay down the balance at an effective rate, then definitely putting your cards aside for a while will be an important part of this process.
Furthermore, if you have multiple credit cards and one or more have a higher balance than the other – then definitely putting a stop to using the one with the high balance is a good idea. Instead, try paying for things with cash and/or debit and that way you won’t increase your overall credit card balances even further.
2. PRIORITIZE which Debt you Will Pay off First
At this point you have hopefully been able to reduce your credit card spending, if not cease from using them altogether and next is to look at which card you need to start paying off first. If one or more of these cards have high interest rates, then this card may prove to be quite challenging to pay off.
With high interest cards, it is typical to only be able to pay off he mimimim balance each month and as a result you are basically only paying off the interest charges – not the actual principle balance. With a pattern like this, while you are continuing to keep up with your monthly payments, when all is said and done you won’t really be reducing your credit card debt very much.
So with this realization, then perhaps by making the higher interest-rated card the priority – you can begin to pay down your credit card debt at a more successful pace and then of course look at moving on the next burdensome credit card after that.
3. CONSOLIDATE your Credit Card Balances
Another approach to attacking that unwanted credit card debt is to look at taking out a debt consolidation loan. While this type of loan arrangement can involve various types of debt and loans, with regards to credit card debt, you can opt to combine all of your credit cards into one loan.
Again, since credit cards can involve high interest rates, through a consolidated loan you can not only reduce the number of different loans you have to keep up with, you are also likely to secure a lower interest rate.
Since consolidation loans are designed to assist individuals with paying off their debts with a higher amount of efficiency, if credit debt has been following you around for some time, a loan like this can definitely prove to be an effective debt-reduction strategy for you in your current predicament.
4. SELL, Sell, Sell
A final method of lessening your credit card woes is to look at garnering some extra income. While there are various ways of achieving this, the avenue here is to sell some of your stuff! Organizing a garage sale, listing items on kijiji or online auction sites – can both be methods of helping you free up some additional funds.
Look around your home, do you have items laying around your house – electronics, furniture, clothes, books, memorabilia/collectibles and so on? Well why not try selling these items, in order to raise some money for your debt-relief cause? If for example, you can make a few hundred extra dollars or so – then these funds can be used towards your credit card debt payments.
If your previous income level has not allowed you to pay off higher than the minimum balance each time, with some additional funds this time around, you can make a lump sum payment off the principle balance and really make a bigger impact on this credit card debt accumulation.
There you have it, a few ways to dig yourself out of credit card debt. Give them a try and also seek out alternative methods of getting rid of that debt that will work for you. Sometimes finding a place to push off from is what you need to begin unravelling your debts.
In the end, once you start down this path – by diligently sticking to your plan and continuing to reduce even a little bit at a time you will have the ability to really make a difference in your overall debt load.
