Welcome StumbleUpon users! Don’t forget to subscribe with RSS or with email to get automatic updates.

It’s possible to overcome debt, but you have to be diligent. Try to make a commitment to yourself to get high interest debt out of your life as soon as possible.  Here is a basic 5 step plan to get your started.educ

Little by little, you can win against debt.

1.Hide your credit cards. Some people suggest cutting up cards to avoid using them, but if you do that, try to keep one intact. Another one is freezing your credit cards, same effect, but no permenent destruction. The goal if this step is to get you to stop digging a deeper hole. All the other steps are invalid unless you do this one.
2.Have an emergency fund. Try to get one month’s expeneses saved. This will be a cushion to keep you from going back to credit cards if something comes up.
3. Tier Your Debt. Look at your debts and examine both interest rates and balances. Usually student loans and mortgages have the lowest rates, so just pay your regular payments. Decide if your going for psychological wins by attacking the smallest balance or if you’re looking for a financial win by attacking the one with the highest interest.

I kind of did a 50/50 with a tax refund and paid a small debt off and put the rest toward a high interest debt. It gave me peace of mind with is worth more than a few extra dollars saved.
4. Lower your interest rates. Call your credit card company or bank and see if you can get a lower rate. If possible, move them to a card with 0% transfer balance. Keep making payments on these cards as you try to get the balance as low as possible at 0%.
5. Keep jabbing and throw in a hook. My husband told me and I love the philosophy behind it. Just keep working at paying your debt month to month and once in awhile put a big chunk down to keep the momentum (like a tax refund semester refund).

Photo Credit:  hendimion / • puntodivergente.com

_{»crosslinked«}

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

• Credit Card Management: Are Credit Cards Good or Bad? Good Monday Morning Green Panda Friends.  It’s time for a new series on Green Panda.  Our new Credit Card Management series will be featured every Monday and Tuesday over the next several weeks.  We will discuss the pros and cons of paying with credit cards, paying off our credit......
• 0 % Interest Credit Cards   It's been a busy weekend and I had to catch up on some things. I'm back and I decided to finish my to do list from long ago, which included looking up 0% interest (on balance transfers) credit cards. A lower interest rate will help you save a little......

• Debt reduction tip: Emergency! Emergency! Throwing extra money against your consumer debt is a very good thing to do.  (The credit card companies hope that you don't do this, because it allows them to charge you interest for a really long period of time, sometimes over a decade.) So if throwing extra money at your......
• Debt Reduction With A Poor Credit Score Many individuals are looking for debt reduction methods to decrease their debt load, especially when they have a poor credit score as well.  A poor credit score can result in having to pay a higher price for debt reduction assistance and the rejection of applications to debt reduction programs.  The......