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How To Get Out of Credit Card Debt 101
Having problems with your debts? Starting up the year with stress because of the charges youve incurred last holiday season? Is there a way to get out of debt more easily? This article will discuss some tips on how you can get free from your debt problems effectively:
Transfer your high rate credit cards. If you cant pay off your credit card balance in full by the end of the month, its a good idea to transfer them over to another credit card that has no interest. Also, if you have more than one credit card, check which one of your cards have the lowest rate of interest so you can transfer over your balances.
When transferring credit card balances, check if there are transfer fees or penalties. If youre opening a new credit card, check how long the zero interest rate will last. Promo periods usually end by six months while other credit cards offer a longer time period of up to a year or even more. Its important that you complete your repayment before the zero interest introductory offer expires.
Focus on paying off your credit card debts. Dont be content with just paying the minimum of your credit card charges. Make it a point to pay off your balances in full as much as possible. Concentrate on paying your charges on your highest rate credit cards and work your way down to those with the lowest interest. This way, you can avoid paying for additional interest and penalty fees.
Put your credit cards at halt. It is advised to stop using your credit cards until youve finished paying off all your bills. Dont give yourself a hard time paying off too many bills at one time. Dont risk getting stuck in credit card debts just because you kept charging more expenses on your cards. Exercise discipline and avoid debt problems.
Check your credit limit. How much of your credit limit have you used in purchasing for the holidays? Remember, experts advise all credit card holders not to go beyond 40% to 50% of their allowable credit line. If you go beyond that, you risk getting stuck in debts and there is a possibility that your creditors will increase your rates because youll be considered as a high-risk borrower. To avoid such problems, make sure that you stay within below 40% of your credit.
Check your credit card statement. Do you take the time to study your credit card statement? If your credit card enables you to access your account online, take this opportunity to make sure that all charges on your credit are accurate.
Check if your payments are aptly recorded by your credit card issuer. If you have any disputes, call your credit card issuer immediately and clear up your concerns. If by any chance, you wont be able to submit your payment on time, call your bank right away to explain your situation and ask for an adjustment. Most creditors wont report your late payment if you can re-submit on the next 30 days.
Credit Card Debt Help The Golden Rules For Using Credit Cards and How To Get Rid of Credit Card Debt (Page 1 of 2)
Credit cards make spending money so easy. The process is one step removed and makes us far less careful about it than if we were handing over our hard earned currency. The combination of this with the fact that they are so easy to obtain for most people can be a recipe for disaster.
The use of credit cards has increased enormously over the last decade or so. Lenders are not always responsible about who they offer cards to – often people who clearly have no chance of paying them back if they use them to their full credit limit. Spending money on credit cards is one reason for many of the personal debt problems that people have today.
If you are one of those people with credit card debt, there are certain ground rules that you need to be aware of if you want to put the debt behind you. First and foremost being that you should not consider borrowing more money to pay off your debt, or taking out more credit cards for spending. Debt is rarely improved by borrowing more money and your situation is much more likely to be made worse than it was before. With credit card debt the best solution is to try to move your debt to another card with the lowest interest rate you can find, preferably 0%.
Balance Transfer Your Way Out Of Debt
You need to look for cards with the best interest rates for balance transfers. It doesnt matter what the rate is for purchases, because you arent going to be making any. This is a very important rule when you do a balance transfer, you must forget that card as far as spending goes. You will rarely find a card that has a special deal on both balance transfers and purchases, so chances are you will soon lose anything you gain on the balance transfer deal if you start spending on the same card.
You need to have some idea about how long it is going to take you to pay off the total debt on your credit cards. If you know you can do it in about a year, then you can look at doing one balance transfer with a good 0% deal and that should be all you need. Once you have transferred, you can just concentrate on paying back what you owe, without being charged any more interest. Just make sure you focus on when the 0% deal runs out and that you can pay if all off by then.
If you need longer than that to pay it off, then you can either find the lowest rate you can for the life of the balance (you are guaranteed that rate until the debt is all paid off) or if you are organised and disciplined you can keep transferring your balance to the next special offer 0% deal and avoid paying any interest at all. I stress that if you are not organised this will not work and you will end up paying interest and other charges. Be honest and decide whether this is for you or not.
Understanding Credit Cards
The way you deal with credit cards will be improved by facing up to some basic truths about them first. The first thing to remember is that the every single credit card is designed to make money for the card company – they would not exist otherwise. This does not mean that there are not ways to take advantage of the benefits of credit cards without paying the card companies, but you need to understand where the traps are and how to avoid them.