Eliminating Your Credit Card Debt

By Sean A. Kelly

Credit card debts are common among many consumers in the United States. Credit card debts are considered unsecured debts and that is why most credit card companies charge a high interest rate. Being in debt is not always a bad thing. By paying off your credit card debts on time you may actually build a good reputation for yourself by keeping your credit ratings or scores at an all-time high. By maintaining an impressively high credit score, you will open up all possibilities to make applying for a bigger loan such as home or car purchase loans easier and more manageable. Potential lenders will most likely consider you to be a low risk debtor and they may not be too strict about your application. However, if your credit card debt is making you lose credit scores, it might be a good time for you to start rethinking about the way you use your credit cards.

Eliminating your credit card debt is not rocket science and is sometimes just sensible and logical steps that you need to take in order to keep your debts manageable and within your control. If you find yourself in a situation where your credit card debts are getting out of hand, it may be a good time to stop using them. Although this first step seems very obvious and sounds like an easy thing to do, it might actually take some getting used to especially if you have been living your life through your credit cards. As silly as the idea might sound, by training yourself to live on cash alone you are establishing control over your own spending habit. If you have more than one credit card, it may be recommended that you cut up all but one card and keep it in case of emergency. By doing so, you might inadvertently alter your spending habits and learn to spend the cash you have only on the things you actually need instead of splurging on all the things you want.

Another suggested way to eliminate your credit card debt is via debt consolidation which might be very beneficial for you in the long run especially if you are bearing debts of more than one credit card. Consolidating your credit card debt basically means that you will be applying for one new loan of the amount of the total of your credit card debt in order to pay them. Instead of paying different amounts of money to different creditors, you will instead focus on one single creditor alone. This may in fact keep your debts more manageable. If you share the responsibility of your credit card debts with your spouse, you might want to explore the options for marital property credit card debt consolidation. Depending on the state where you reside, there are different statutes of limitations and rulings on how this matter is to be handled especially if you and your spouse are separated or divorced while still being in debt.

Once you have consolidated your credit card debts into one, you might want to start figuring out ways on how to quickly finish paying off your debt. This is because consolidating your credit card debts only means that you now have the convenience of keeping track of only one single debt at an interest rate that may be considerably lower than that of your previous credit card debts. You will still need to make due payments and possibly be rid of debts once and for all once you have completed the payments. So it may be a good idea if you calculate the required minimum monthly payment against the total amount of debt to see if the minimum payment only covers the interest without even nearing the principal. If that is the case, it may be advisable that you consider making payments higher than the minimum required amount. This way, you might start paying off your principal amount and finally be free of debt sooner than is originally planned.

These suggestions on ways to eliminate your credit card debts might not work for situations that call for even more serious solutions and professional assistance. If that is the case, it is recommended that you seek help from institutions that offer debt relief programs for you to systematically and consistently take the necessary actions in order to free yourself from credit card debts.

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