subject: Managing Your Personal Credit Card Debt [print this page] There are many people that have large amounts of personal credit card debt and then there are others that pay their credit card balances in full every month. When they list the average amount of credit card debt per household, you have to realize that it averages the people with no debt along with the people that have debt. So, when the figure is listed, the people that have debt actually have more than the figured listed.
There are many great plans that can help you get out of debt on your own by organizing your debt and asking for interest rate reductions from your credit card companies. To be successful with this plan and get out of debt in a reasonable amount of time, you will have to pay more than the minimum payment. This will involve reducing your variable spending and increasing your income in many cases. Many people have eliminated their credit card balances this way and have ended up much stronger and financially stable for it.
But when it gets right down to it, many people have become overwhelmed and are having problems dealing with the enormity of the situation they are faced with. In this case, you are most likely better off using a credit counseling service. These companies are nonprofit and their primary goal is to help you get out of debt and not making money off of people that can least afford it. You can contact these services either by phone or through online contact forms. To get started, you will need your amount of debt and a phone number.
These companies can only help with unsecured debt, but that is what almost all credit cards are. The debt management organization will give you a quote for your monthly payment. It will be right around 2% of the debt that you have enrolled in the program. In most cases your payment will be setup as an electronic funds transfer and it will be processed on the same day each month. You will be making one convenient payment each month. The big benefit to using a credit counseling service is the reduced interest rates and the eliminated fees. This should put you at debt freedom at 3 to 5 years.
Personal credit card debt can be the cause of a great deal of stress. The sooner you make a decision as to how you are going to manage it the better off you will be. This is a process that will not happen overnight and it is important to stay focused, so that you are able to stay on track to living a debt free life.
