Below you can find ten useful tips for getting out of credit card debt. If you are finding it hard to keep your head above water (and these days who isn’t) then putting these ten tips into practice will help you reduce your credit card debt.
1. Don’t use your credit cards anymore. Seriously, cease and desist! Who would have thought that a measly 2 X 3 inch piece of plastic could cause SO much trouble?
2. Don’t carry your credit cards with you. It would be too tempting to use them. Put them away somewhere, have your spouse hide them, lock them in a safe. Do whatever you can to keep them out of reach.
3. If you do use your credit card, pay the balance in full at the end of every month. Don’t say, I’ll be ok just making the minimum payment this month then next month I’ll pay it off. Before you know it you’ve used that evil little 2 x 3 inch piece of plastic again and again and the minimum payment has tripled and now you can’t afford to pay it. Then you get scared because now the credit card company has charged you an exorbitant late fee and they are calling you night and day because they want their money.
4. You’re in the store and you see something you think you absolutely cannot live without. Your palms start to sweat because you know you don’t have the cash to pay for it and the evil little 2 x 3 inch piece of plastic is in your wallet calling your name and saying, ‘Oh, come on, just this once. No one is watching. Take me out and use me. I won’t tell.’
Try this. Instead of being impulsive and listening to that little troublemaker in your wallet, make yourself leave the store, write down what it was you wanted to buy and make yourself wait 30 days and see if you still think you can’t live without it. Thirty days will also allow some time to save the cash to buy it so you will still come out ahead by not having to use your card.
5. Call your credit card company and ask them to reduce your interest rate. Warning, if you hear hysterical laughter and then the line goes dead, that probably means no.
But you can feel good about yourself because you had the guts to ask and that’s what these tips for getting out of credit card debt were meant to give you, courage.
6. Go over your credit card bills every month and check for mistakes. The credit card gods only think they are gods, they really are only people just like you and me and contrary to what they like to think, they do make mistakes.
7. You can also request that late fees and over limit fees be waived. If you’ve caught the credit card gods on a good day they may just work with you. Just keep in mind what I said earlier about hearing hysterical laughter.
8. Set up a payment plan. Here’s where it gets a little screwy. If you’ve been making your payments on time every month, if you’ve been GOOD, the credit card gods will not reward you with a more manageable payment plan. However, if you’ve been unable to pay your bill on time or even at all, the credit card gods will literally fall all over themselves to work out a payment plan with you. Why? Because they would much rather get their money slowly than not get it at all.
9. If you have been able to save some money in this down-trodden economy you can try offering the credit card gods a lump-sum settlement. Start with 25 percent of the total balance owed. If they have any sense at all they will take it and run. Just make sure they mark your account paid-in-full. When one balance is paid, cut up that card so you don’t just turn around and do it to yourself again.
10. Get any and all deals you have negotiated concerning your credit card debt IN WRITING. Never take anybody’s word for anything especially the credit card gods, they are the ones who told you that using that evil little 2 x 3 inch piece of plastic would make your life better. THEY LIED!
Good luck and I hope my ten tips for getting out of credit card debt do help to make your life better or at least a little more manageable.