3 Simple Steps to Credit Card Debt Relief
Looking for the easiest road to credit card debt relief? Sometimes the easiest way isn't always the best. If you want to erase your debt without trashing your credit score, these three steps can help...
With the state of today's economy it's not a big surprise that more and more people are looking for credit card debt relief. The question is, how do you find relief when bills seem to get higher while better wages are harder to come by? Here are a few simple steps that can help rid you of your credit card debt while saving your credit score...
1. Time for math
First things first... You have to get a grasp on just how much debt you are in. A few thousand dollars? Ten thousand? More?
You can't organize a plan of attack if you don't know exactly what it is you're dealing with. If you want credit card debt relief, you need to know just how much debt you're in and that means adding up all of the totals on all of your accounts. Scary? Maybe. But it's a necessary evil.
2. Cut the fat
Okay, I will be the first to admit that this is the part that hurts, but the fact of the matter is that if you want to get out of debt you're going to have to revise the way you spend your cash.
Take a good look at how you spend your money. I don't care if you're buying a couch or a stick of gum, take two weeks and write down every single purchase you make. This will give you an idea of how you handle your budget.
When the two weeks are over, go ahead and review everything you purchased. Take two highlighters - one pink and one green. If an expense was absolutely unavoidable (gas, mortgage, electric) highlight it in green. If it wasn't necessary (coffee, a movie, dinner out) highlight it in pink. Now for the hard part...
All of those expenses highlighted in pink? You're going to have to do without them for a while. Use that money to start paying down your debt. The only way to get credit card debt relief is to pay your balances down as fast as possible and that means cutting out all unnecessary expenses.
3. Start the payoff process
Once you've cut out all unnecessary expenses start applying that saved cash towards your credit card balances. Start with the card that has the lowest balance and highest interest rate and apply all of your extra money towards that card each month.
Once that card is paid off take all the money that was going towards it and pay it towards the card that now offers the lowest balance and highest interest rate. Keep doing this till all of your credit cards are paid in full. It's the only surefire way to experience complete credit card debt relief without having to worry about tarnished credit.
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