Advice On Reducing Your Credit Card Debt

It is the easiest thing in the world to get into debt but, unfortunately, getting out of debt is frequently a very hard and long road to travel. For many individuals today credit cards are the root of their debt problem and lowering credit card debt is something which takes a bit of planning and a lot of self-control.

You have to begin by lowering your spending on your credit cards, and if possible to cease using your cards completely. Credit cards are much too easy to use and the first trick is to leave your credit cards at home when you go shopping and to just take sufficient cash with you for your needs.

Now you are still going to see things that you would like to purchase and which you would have purchased if you had had your credit card with you, but the simple fact that you have to return home for your credit card to purchase something means that you will think twice about it. Hopefully, it will also get you into the habit of thinking about whether you really need some things. One of the biggest problems with credit cards is that they allow you to make impulse buys and ninety percent of the time these purchases are things you could well do without.

But, cutting back on your expenditure is only one half of the equation because you still have to clear your existing debt. Of course lowering your expenditure will help because you will have more money available and will be in a position to begin paying off more of your credit card debt every month. Of course this might still leave you looking at a considerable time period before your card debt is clear, but it is a very good start.

Yet another effective way to lower your credit card debt might be credit card debt consolidation which involves taking your present credit card debts and putting them all onto a single card which has a lower rate of interest. Naturally this does not get rid any of your debt although it does slow down the rate at which the debt grows every month as interest is added to your account and so gives you a better chance to catch up with the problem. Nowadays there is huge competition between credit card companies and you will find all sorts of inducements on offer to consolidate current credit card debt, including such things as an interest holiday with 0% APR being charged to your new card for the first three or six months. As with any financial offer you do however need to read the fine print very carefully and make sure that you know precisely what sort of contract you are signing. If you fail to study the small print with care you could find yourself jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

One alternative to credit card debt consolidation is to simply speak to your credit card company and ask them if they would be willing to lower the interest rate on your current card. You may be surprised to find that with so the current level of competition in the market many companies will look favorably in such a request in order to retain your business.

If, in spite of your best efforts, you simply feel that you are not going to be able to get your debt down to a manageable level then you might wish to negotiate a settlement of your debt with your credit card company. However, negotiating settlement with a credit card company is something of an art and this is not a route you ought to follow without seeking professional advice.

There is unfortunately no simple answer to reducing credit card debts and, no matter how you try to dress it up, it comes down to a mixture of disciplining yourself into reigning in your expenditure and paying down as much of your balance as you can afford each month. It is also a good idea to get professional debt assistance before things get out of control.