subject: Handle Excessive Credit Card Debt Easily Starting Today [print this page] Excessive credit card debt is a common problem for hundreds of millions of people. It is one of the top reasons for bankruptcies and disharmony in marriages. It can cause huge amounts of stress for you even if you are single. If you are ready to take care of that nasty debt once and for all, there are ways to do it without declaring bankruptcy or going to a consumer credit counseling agency, both of which can damage your credit score.
Here are the top 3 ways you can get a handle on your financial life.
1. Excessive credit card debt is best handled by paying down your highest interest cards first. If you have many different cards, you likely have a certain amount of money budgeted toward paying the minimum payments each month. Take the majority of that money and put it toward your highest interest rate card. Whatever is left over, you can use to pay the lower interest cards. This tactic alone will help you save loads of money each month. Once the highest interest rate card is paid off, put all the extra money toward the card with the next highest rate, and so on.
2. Negotiate with your creditors. Most of them will be willing to work with you to get your excessive credit card debt paid off. You can ask for reductions in or eliminations of high interest rates, late fees, over-the-limit fees, and overall balances. You will often get what you ask for, or a convenient payment plan that is better than your current one, at the very least.
3. Avoid buying credit card insurance. This is really just a scam that the credit card companies run to get more money out of you each month. That one to two dollars for insurance to "protect" your card in case you lose your job or source of income for a while really adds up over the course of a year, and the chances of you having to use it are very small. Even if you did find yourself in a position where you might need to use it, there are other, better, cheaper ways of handling excessive credit card debt that you can use.
Be smart, and you will be debt free before you know it. Then, your standard of living can really increase, as long as you do not keep adding to the balance on the cards. Cut them up and throw them away!
