Unfortunately, credit card debt can creep up to scary levels where it becomes difficult to pay the minimum balances and keep up with day-to-day bills. It can become overwhelming quickly. You may have become accustomed to using your credit card for day-to-day morning coffee purchases as well as your grab-and-go convenience store purchases. How do you make the transition between this lifestyle and a bare-bones budget? You take the bull by the horns.
Face Your Fear
Many people don't actually know exactly what they owe to whom and at what rate. Your first step in setting up a plan to pay off your credit cards is to face reality. Get out all of your bills--every one of them--and make a list of the balances owed at the interest rates. You may notice that some of your bills, like medical bills, don't charge interest--they just took second place in your bill-paying plan.
Organization
Once you have your list, place the creditors with the highest interest rates at the top of your list, then list the next highest interest rate-bearing card and so on. If you have access to a spreadsheet program, set up a spreadsheet, either on your computer or on paper. Let's say you owe XXX credit card $4,000 at 22 percent interest; YYY credit card company $2,500 at 9 percent interest; and TTT credit card company $1,300 at 6 percent interest. Your priority is to pay the creditor with the highest interest rate off first. If you have to just pay the minimum payments on YYY and TTT for a year, so be it. Pay all that you can, while budgeting to pay all of your other debts (like medical bills), to XXX to pay it off as soon as possible. As soon as it is paid, go for YYY company and pay it off as soon as you can; then go for TTT Company. This, of course, assumes that you have cut up your credit cards and are not accruing any more debt. Your budget shouldn't be so tight as to not allow for some fun money or you will quickly fall off the debt-payment wagon. Once you have it on paper, you will be able to see that there is an end to the debt. Think about how it will feel to have no debt and to be able to purchase things with cash, not with credit. Make a vow to never own more than one major credit card (for emergencies!) and to remain debt free.
Negotiate
If you find that your debts are completely out of hand and overwhelming, there are organizations that will help you negotiate your debt down. Beware of organizations that charge you for their services--there are those that don't--like Consumer Credit Counseling Services. Don't pay for services that you don't have to pay for.
Many credit card companies will work with you. Call them and see if you can negotiate a lower interest rate on your own. Most of the time, they will work with you.
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