subject: Tips To Help You Easily Pay Off Your Debt Without Hurting Your Credit [print this page] Tips To Help You Easily Pay Off Your Debt Without Hurting Your Credit
List all your debts, smallest to largest
It's a good idea to get the interest rate as low as you can. Either by negotiating with your existing creditor or transferring the balance. But it's dangerous to get more credit before you're changed your habits.
Get current on all bills, utilities, car payments, e.t.c. Revisit your budget frequently. See what you can skimp on where you cut corners. Create a bare-bones written budget for food, utilities, housing, auto gas and current payments. Time your lifestyle wherever possible.
Do you have cable TV? If you can't live without it, it's been my experience that companies offer a sub-basic cable service which includes major network television in high quality. Call and ask about it, because it won't be advertised.
How about internet? Depending on your living arrangement, maybe you can strike a deal with someone near by to go halves on high speed internet and share it using wireless.
How far are you from work? Could you ride a bicycle there of is public transport the best option? Consider the money you would save on filling up your car with gas.
DVD rental services you don't use? Magazine subscriptions you don't read? Health club memberships you don't take advantage of? The list goes on.
Get an extra job(s) people always mention delivering pizzas, but anything greater than minimum wage is good.
Garage sales sell ANYTHING that's lying around collecting dust. Sell the care you're making payment on and buy a cheap $2000 "garage sale" car to free up some extra cash.
Put a certain percentage of your income in savings as a beginner emergency fund. That's what you need to get back to. Do this and you'll have extra money left at the end of the month. Some of that should go toward a cash reserve or (find a high yield savings account, with any bank that offers over 4% interest on simple savings accounts) so you're not stuck dipping into credit for emergencies. The rest goes toward paying off your debt.
Pay off your highest interest credit cards and debt FIRST Try to do what it takes to stop that debt from casting you more money just to sit around. Whatever it takes, if you have three credit cards and one is 17%, another is 15% and another 13%, do what you have to go nix that 17% as soon as possible, but don't forget the others in the process, just prioritize by interest.
If you have credit card debt and you have a decent history, sonsider getting a credit card that offers you a free, 0% balance transfer for a year. That won't get you out debt but it will stop finance charrges while you're paying down the debt, and it also could allow you to consolidate multiple cards into one lump, which makes things easier to track.
Consider borrowing from family at a lower rate and paying everything off. Set up a repayment schedule with the person. Give them a decent rate of return, which you can do and still pay less than you credit card's rate.
It's not a quick fix, but a desire for instant gratification is part of what leads us into debt. Instead, savor the fact that every month you have a more cash and less debt than the one before. At some point, your cash reserve exceeds your debt, and if you're comfortable enough in your new habits, you can pay it all off in one chunk.
