Credit Card Debt Pay-off Suggestions

Like many others out there, you’ve made the decision to pay down your credit card debt.  You’ve taken a hard look at your finances, you’ve added up all those credit card bills, now you just need to know where to start on your plan.  Here are some suggestions that can help.

Credit Card Debt Pay-off Suggestion 1

Consider transferring balances.  Check your available balances and your interest rates.  Are you able to take balances from higher interest rate cards and put them on a lower interest rate card?  Do you get those offers in the mail for zero interest rates on balance transfers?  You can take advantage of those offers as long as you don’t use the cards that you free up by transferring the balances.  You don’t want to use the cards you’ve just transferred the balance from, because that would be adding to the debt level, not helping eliminate it.  Also, know that those zero percent rates are usually introductory.  Make sure that the rate isn’t going to jump up to 20% if you don’t have it paid off by the time the introductory rate ends.

The point is, you can save a significant amount of money by transferring balances to a lower rate card.  That money can then be used to pay down your debts even faster.

Credit Card Debt Pay-off Suggestion 2

Call your creditors.  Negotiate lower rates.  You can easily do this if you’ve been a customer for a long time, or if you threaten to leave.  If you are making consistent payments, the credit card companies are going to want to keep you.  It’s easier than you think to negotiate with them, and if it doesn’t work, just go back to suggestion one!

Credit Card Debt Pay-off Suggestion 3

Most of the advice out there tells you to pay off the higher interest rate cards first, which is excellent advice.  However, in order to keep yourself motivated, also consider paying off smaller amounts first.  If you can see your forward progress you may be able to keep that momentum going.  Take a look at your credit card debt (and your personality) and decide which approach would work best for you.  Personally, it helps me when I can see smaller amounts being chipped away and eliminated.  Definitely a strong motivator!

Credit Card Debt Pay-off Suggestion 4

Use your savings to pay down some debt.  I’m not suggesting you use all of your savings, but you can use part of it.  The interest rate you are paying on your credit cards is most likely higher than the rate you are earning on your savings, so it serves you better to use those funds to pay down your debt.

Credit Card Debt Pay-off Suggestion 5

You focus on one card.  Pay the minimum amounts on your other cards, and just get one paid down and gone.  Then move on to the next, and the next, and the next.  It may take some time, but you’ll see your progress.

All of these suggestions come along with the fact that you have to stop using the credit cards.  It’s not an overnight fix, and no one is perfect.  However, with a  good plan, some time, patience, and a lot of faith in yourself, you CAN succeed!

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