Credit card debt is one of the worst financial situations you can manage to get yourself in. If you are sitting there, looking at multiple credit card statements and only sending just enough money to your creditors to cover the minimum payments due, you are making one of the least efficient financial choices you could ever make. By the time you end up paying off those debts with minimum payments, you’ll have acquired so much in interest that you’ll pay double, or more, of what you actually racked up on those credit cards.


Failing to pay and continuing to dig yourself deeper into a hole of credit card debt, you’ll find your credit score gradually slip. This will affect nearly every aspect of your life. With a bad credit score you’ll have a more difficult time finding a better job. You won’t be able to purchase or lease that new hybrid-electric car you want because you can’t charge your credit card with the price of gas as it is. No bank will even come close to considering you for any type of loan, and if you somehow had the thought that you could buy a new house, kiss that dream goodbye.

As you may have noticed the price of everything is going up. Gas has skyrocketed, food prices are rising, and the dollar’s purchasing power is weaker. All of these factors make it a bad time to be in credit card debt. It’s getting harder than ever to get credit and loans, so if you’re in credit card debt it’s going to be extremely difficult once you rebound.

Do It Now! There is no better time to start reducing your credit card debt then right now. Every month you do not start paying them off is another month of high interest debt being accumulated on your account.

Freeze Your Credit Cards

Paying off that credit card debt doesn’t have to be that impossible task that you think it is. The fact of the matter is that it is simple. You just have to think simple and make your life a little simpler, as well. Take your credit cards that are acquiring debt and interest on that debt, and hide them. Put those credit cards where you can’t get at them until the credit card debt is gone. One interesting suggestion was given was since you can’t afford to put any more charges on it, freeze the credit card, literally. Put the credit cards in a seal-able bag with water, and toss them in that freezer. Viola! Your credit card accounts are frozen.

Crunch the Numbers - Planning and Preparation Help

This is where you will need to take some time to crunch some numbers. Take a look at your latest credit card statements. If you have multiple credit cards that are driving you into credit card debt, you will want to compare what is hitting you the hardest, and decide from there how you want to pay off the debt.

What card has the most amount of debt on it? What are the annual percentage rates on those credit cards in debt? If you are looking for the option that will keep you from losing the most amount of money while paying off debts, then calculate which will generate the most amount of interest from unpaid credit card debt by multiplying the debt amount by the APR of each separate credit card. The card that has the highest APR will generally be this card, and for the sake of saving you from paying larger amounts of interests, you should generally put down as much money as possible into this debt as you can. Even if you can only afford to pay 50 dollars more than the minimum payment on this credit card, depending on the size of the debt, you could cut the time it takes to pay off this credit card debt in half.

Once this first credit card is finished and debt free, cancel the credit card immediately. This will take the limit on this card off of your balance of available credit on your credit report. Doing this will effectively boost your credit score. Follow through with this plan until you are debt free off of all of your credit cards.

An alternate path, while not as financially perfect as the above plan of attack, may seem more rewarding and therefore give you a boost in confidence in thinking that you will eventually be credit card debt free. Instead of starting with credit cards with the highest amount of debt and interest, some choose to get the cards with the smallest amount of debt out of the way. Financially, it is a weak tactic, but emotionally, it may be less strenuous and draining to take this path. Once you get one card done, and faster than the debt on cards with the most amounts on them, you may feel like you can achieve getting debt free off larger credit card debts.

Paying off credit card debt is all about planning your budget, and for some, this can seem like an impossible task. Where are you supposed to get the extra money to pay down when you can barely pay the minimum monthly fee? An obvious, but not always accessible option for people in credit card debt is to get a second, part-time job. The extra money from your second job should be put towards your credit cards and your credit cards only. Finding other ways to put extra money towards your credit card payments is easier than this, and shouldn’t involve having to get a second job.

Steps to Take to Pay off Credit Card Debt

Sit down and analyze where you are spending your money. What can you cut back on, and what can you knock out completely. Reducing costs is just as important as increasing revenue in the credit equation. Every extra cent counts and can help you get out of credit card debt faster than you think. Let’s look at some things you can do to save up a few extra dollars to pay off your credit cards.

• Take a bagged lunch to work instead of eating out.
• Make a big, cheap dinner at home, and save leftovers for the next few days (This, or live off of Asian noodle cups)
• Start clipping coupons and use them. The savings add up! A good website for this is The Grocery Game. You can save up to 50%, 60% or even 70% on grocery bills when take time to plan what you buy, and when you buy it (On Sale!). For large families, this can equal hundreds of dollars in savings per month.
• Watch a movie in your collection instead of paying ten bucks a person to sit in a movie theater for 2 hours.
• Shop at thrift and discount stores. It might be second hand, but has anyone ever asked you if someone else owned that jacket before you?

The most important thing to keep in mind when paying off credit card debt is that you need to stick to your plan. Don’t sidetrack yourself, don’t splurge (especially with your credit cards), but most of all, don’t get yourself down. Paying off your credit cards is completely possible no matter how long you may think that “it will take forever to pay off my credit card debt” time will be. Keep your payments above the minimum, and budget properly, and you will see your credit card debt vanish quicker than you realized it would take.