Are your credit card debts giving you nightmares? If yes read on
and see if we can save you some money and help you sleep better
at night. It is so easy to get yourself into debt, as all these
credit card companies seem to be throwing these cards at us.
Learn to understand your statement if you're paying more than
15% of your monthly salary to your credit card bill then now is
the time to take some action. If you pay the minimum payment and
the interest charge takes up a lot of your monthly payment, not
much is actually coming of the balance. For example say you pay
£100 a month now take a look at your statement and see how much
actually goes on interest.
Avoid minimum payments...
The minimum payments are a nightmare they are costing you a
fortune and will take years to pay of the debt. Credit card
companies used to take 5% as a minimum payment of the total
money owed, but now ask as little as 2% as people where finding
it hard to pay back the 5%. This has in turn created a debt
problem for many people.
Here are some ways to help you reduce your credit card debts!
Try to stop using your credit card and if you cannot, monitor
what you spend. Balance transfers are a good way to save you
money, lookout for the ones that offer 0% interest free periods
for 6-9 months; this will give you a bit of breathing space.
Make sure you check the APR rate once the 0% interest free
period is over and cut up the previous card, as you do not want
to be tempted again and end up in more debt.
You can move your debt to a credit card with a lower APR...
There is nothing that says once the 0% interest free period is
over that you must stick with this card, if you watch what
you're doing you could then change to another card that has the
same offer on. Just be careful and make sure you have your dates
correct, as you do not want to be getting charged for any late
payments.
Once you feel that you have got yourself on an even keel the
next step is to try and clear up your debt completely. The way
we do this is to start with the credit card that has the highest
APR rate, pay the most to this credit card and just pay the
minimum payment to the rest of your cards, once this card is
finished then go the next highest APR card and so on until all
your credit cards are paid off.
Credit cards are a great thing and we all need them, but they
must be on our terms and we must be able to pay them off, if
possible at the end of every month. If we cannot, this is when
the problems start as minimum payments only get you into more
debt and will take years to pay off.
Remember...
1) Try to stop using your credit card 2) 0% balance transfers
can help you pay off your debt 3) Pay off the debt with the
highest APR first
Once you have got the debt under control and at an amount that
you feel is manageable, the next step is to try and curb the
spending and clear the debt completely and get back on an even
keel, then you can enjoy the spending freedom that a credit card
brings you, but under your terms.
About the author:
Peter Kenny is a writer for creditcards-gb For additional
articles and an extensive resource for everything about credit
cards, please visit us at
http://www.creditcards-gb.
co.uk and
http://www.creditcards2go4.
com
