Ways to Earn Extra Income

If you feel like you're drowning in debt there are things you can do to ease the burden. One f them is earning extra inome each month. This doesn't mean taking on another full-time job. There are many things you can do to earn a little extra money. Even if it means just bringing in a couple of hundred dollars a month, this can really make a difference in your overall financial picture. The following are just some ways that you can bring in extra income:

• Think about providing childcare in the evenings or on weekends. Other parents are always looking for dependable childcare.
• If there is a subject in which you have some expertise, consider tutoring students after school. You can advertise your services on any local school bulletin board.
• If your talents are more artistically inclined, why not offer music or art lessons in your home.
• More and more people are in the market for professionally designed websites. If you have the knowledge you can charge people for creating websites for them in your spare time.
• We all tend to have too much stuff cluttering up our attics, basements and closets. The next time you do spring cleaning consider having a garage sale to earn some extra cash.
• On that same note, selling items on eBay can be a fun and profitable hobby.
• Sewing has become a lost art for many. If you have the skills, charge people to do simple tailoring.
• Do you have a great cake recipe. Charge people to bake cakes or other goodies for special ocassions.
• If you're a crafter, consider selling your goods at local craft fairs.
• If you have a green thumb, think about selling flowers or vegetables from your garden at local farmer’s markets.
• The Internet offers lots of different ways to make money online.A favorite among many is getting paid to participate in on-line surveys.
  

Just remember, probably none of these ideas will make you rich. However, if you need extra money for a vacation or Christmas shopping, try out one of these methods to earn extra income instead of turning to your credit card and raking in more credit card debt.

Lauri Nawrot

Credit Card Debt: Several Tips To Help You Pay Down Your Credit Card Debt

Summer vacation is just around the corner and you're still trying to pay off that holiday buying spree. Your credit cards are just about maxed out. Is there anything you can do? Yes. Here are tips to help pay off credit card debt.

It may seem extreme but the first thing you need to do is to put those credit cards away where you can't get at them easily. Only carry one card with you and use it only for emergencies. A café latte isn't an emergency even if you're tired and are having a caffeine attack. Either is being low on gas. An emergency means that you've had an accident and need medical care. Or your roof caved in.

Now drag out the most recent credit card statement for each account you have. If you have a student loan, store credit, bought furniture on time, or other unsecured loans get those statements out as well.

Make a chart listing the name of the account, interest rate, minimum payment, outstanding balances, and payment due date. Add all the minimum payments together to see what your total debt payment is each month. And add all the outstanding balances together as well. You might be shocked to see just how much money you owe and how much you have to pay each month.

Let's say for example that you're like the average family with $10,000 of credit card debt. If you only make the minimum payments it could take you up to 20 years to pay off that $10,000 because of the very high interest rates credit cards carry. If you have 5 cards each with a minimum payment of $50, you'll be paying $250.00 every month and not making much progress towards whittling down your balances.

Your next step is to set a target amount of money that you can pay in addition to the minimum payments. Without getting all tangled up in a complicated math explanation just keep in mind that for every $100 over the monthly minimum payment, you'll be erasing $1200 a year of debt. It will still take about 10 years to pay off the $10,000. But $100 a month isn't that much money if you break it down. If you eat lunch out every day at work that's $100 right there if you switch to brown bagging your own lunch. And that's what you'll have to do next. Figure out where you can find some extra cash.

If you rent movies two or three times a week, get them from the library for free instead. Switch from department store clothing to big box stores. Use coupons to save on groceries. Have vegetarian meals like pasta twice a week instead of meat. Use chicken instead of beef. Once you get started on where you can cut your budget you'll come up with lots of ways. Some of them entirely painless.

Put any cash gifts toward your credit card debt. If you get an income tax refund pay down the debt. Use your raise to pay off even more debt.

Some people are so overwhelmed by their debt that even if they implement the above steps, getting all that debt paid off isn't really possible without some help. If that's you, you still have a couple of options.

Debt settlement is using some of your cash and getting your creditors to agree to take the lesser amount as payment in full. That will hurt your credit rating and there may be some income tax consequences but the debt and the monthly debt payment will be gone.

Credit counseling is a possibility. The counseling service will set up a reasonable, although tight, budget and use every extra dime to go towards debt payment. They'll negotiate with each creditor to adjust the interest rate, waive late fees, and sometimes decrease the amount owed.

Consolidation loans are another option. In most cases you'll use the equity in your home to secure the consolidation loan. Each of your creditors will be paid and you'll have a fresh start.

No matter what you do, at least do something. That credit card debt won't go away by itself.

Dee Power

Credit Card Debt Elimination - When To Consolidate Credit Card Debt

Maybe you have a few too many credit cards, or perhaps you just can't keep your financial paperwork organized. When it seems like the bills are becoming overwhelming, you may want to consider consolidating your credit card debt. Here are some warning signs of debt overload:

You can't keep track of your bills.

If you have four, six or eight different account statements coming to your mail every month, it may be hard to keep track of when all the payments are due. Although an organized bill-paying system--including a calendar and central bill-paying location--can help, sometimes folks are just too busy or too overwhelmed to cope with all the paperwork. A debt consolidation service can help you organize your bills and limit your paperwork to just one single monthly payment.

You've stretched your budget.

Sometimes it might be a matter of spreading your money too thin. Have you ever waited to pay one bill because you needed the money to pay another bill? Have you ever borrowed from one credit card to pay another credit card company? If so, chances are your credit is overextended. If that's the case, a debt consolidation service can often help lower your interest rates and your minimum monthly payment, making it easier for you to pay your bill each month.

The phones have started ringing.

No matter what the reason--lack of organization or a stretched budget--once creditors start calling you and demanding payment, it's time to take a close look at your financial situation. At this point, you may have damaged your credit history and lowered your credit score. However, you can repair the damage with a debt consolidation company. The service can help you get your monthly payments back on track, and they can negotiate with your creditors so that fewer black marks are put on your credit report.

If you see any of these warning signs of debt overload in your own personal life, you may want to consider credit card consolidation. By utilizing a debt consolidation service--or consolidating your debt on your own with a loan--you'll improve your credit history, help avoid negative marks on your credit report and increase your chances of getting a favorable loan or credit card in the future.

L. Sampson

Don’t Let A Card Control You – Credit Card Debt Management

Easily fits in your pocket but....not in your budget, a small piece of plastic with the power of currency in it…CREDIT CARD. Credit card is the most common currency used for serving various financial purposes without carrying lot of cash. But as we know that excess of anything is not good. This applies here also, as when we spend through credit cards more than our repayment capacity. It creates troubles for us at the end of the month in form of a huge credit card bill. And not paying such bills on time will lead us to bear penalty charges. All this may seems stressing and annoying to you but it’s even worst when it happens with you. For such situations credit card debt management UK is here to avoid you from falling into such situations.

Credit card debt management in UK is about managing your debts related to your credit cards. Credit card debt management UK offers you following services which you can get benefited from:

• Credit card debt management plans

• Credit card debt management services

• Credit card debt consolidation

• Budget planning

• Bankruptcy education

• Credit card debt education

• Credit counseling

In addition to these credit card debt management services in UK there are steps which you can take from your side such as making cash purchases, don’t carry too many credit cards; they will only increase troubles, use of debit cards if you are not comfortable with carrying cash in your pocket, control your expenses, regular savings for bad times to avoid taking debts.

To avail all these benefits you can log on to credit card debt management websites where you can get fill the application form with the required details such as your name, address and contact information, total amount of credit card debts with you, number of credit cards you have, your monthly income, credit statement for reference. The consultants in these credit card debt management agencies in UK are highly professional and you can easily rely on them for handling your financial matters. There is lot of flexibility in working of these agencies. So you can use there services according to your requirements.

The major drawback in using credit cards is that many people in UK overspend and find themselves in the black hole of high interest credit card debt. Credit card debt management UK cater to such people with ease in recovering from and avoiding such debts.

Aldrich Chappel

Credit Card Debt Consolidation: How To Get Out Of Your Credit Card Debt In An Easiest Way

Today, with so many growing strains, especially in financial area…it is more common than ever for people to have uncontrollable amounts of debts. This kind of debts usually occurs in form of credit card bills, and it becomes a major financial problem for many individuals and families.

An ordinary people in US alone, not mention in another developed countries, has a monthly balance of about $8000 that consists of credit cards and student loans. Unfortunately, this credit cards balance have very high rates of interests, and these high rates of interests have constantly drain away cash from monthly household budgets.

If you trapped in this conditions, the only way to get rid to opt for credit card debt consolidation.

The Biggest Problem of All

Many people fail to realize that paying one credit card bills with another one is not the solution, and by doing so, only increase their debt burden at an increasing and generally uncontrollable rate.

After seeing this act only make things worse, many people turn into debt consolidation in hope there is miracle that can free them from debt instantly. However, it is not the case, debt consolidation only works as a way or plan to help people get out of debt in possible way according to those people conditions.

The Proven Way to Reduce Credit Card Debts Using Debt Consolidation Program

Having a large credit card balance not only could affect your physical condition but as well psychology condition which leads to financial and emotional acute stress. Trapping in this conditions should aware you not to increase your debt to such an extent that will become problematic to pay it off with additional interests.

Debt consolidation program could assist you to some extent by lowering your monthly debt payments, which eventually putting an end to credit harassment. They can also improve your credit rating by consolidating the debts into one monthly payment.

With all being said the best way to get out of credit card debt is to spend cautiously and consolidate your debt.

Andrew Heuw

Credit Card Debt Consolidation – Solution For Unpaid Card Bills

Credit card is a preferable way among large number of people to spend rather than carrying cash in your pockets. A credit card also known as plastic money enables you to spend more then what you can afford to handle. This sometimes leads to overspending and creation of unmanageable debts. Credit card debt consolidation helps you getting your control back to manage and clear off such debts with ease.

Credit card debt consolidation is a concept in which a person takes certain measures to combine or consolidate all his credit card related debts into a single manageable debt. The main purpose of credit card debt consolidation is to get rid of the credit card debt and stopping it from arising further. For a faster credit card debt relief you can look for a credit card debt consolidation loan. This form of loan available in both secured and unsecured forms serves you with the sufficient funds with which you can pay all your credit card unpaid bills and dues.

There are other steps too which helps in consolidation of credit card debts such as hiring the services of debt management companies. Experts from these companies try to negotiate with your creditors for lowering down or waiving the interest rates and penalty charges on your bills. You can also attend credit counseling and debt management programs as this will let you know how to handle you debts. Credit card debt management plans are also there to look for.

To get enrolled and avail all such credit card debt consolidation services you can take the help of internet. You can search among large number of websites of debt management companies where you can apply for such services at affordable rates. You need to fill your personal details on the online application form available on these sites along with the details of your credit cards and debts you are carrying on them. Also you need to mention your employment status and monthly income. After reviewing your application, professional consultants from these companies will contact you suggesting you the ways to control your credit card debt while discussing it with you.

As we know that banks and other credit card issuing authorities are very strict for the payment of credit card bills. Not paying these bills can even lead you to face bankruptcy from which you can’t recover. The ability to avoid such situations with ease is making credit card debt consolidation popular among the credit card holders.

Martin Andrews

Integrating Your Card Bills - Credit Card Debt Consolidation Loan

Credit cards are issued by banks and financial institutions for bearing out temporary shortfall of cash during shopping, eating out, making purchases and any other reason. For every single amount you spend through these credit cards, you need to repay the amount along with the interest on it at the end of every month. This is an easy task with a single card and smaller debt amounts. But when you are having too many cards and debt amounts are touching skies, it becomes a trouble for you. Credit card debt consolidation loan here act as the rescuer for us in clearing our troubles.

Credit card debt consolidation loans are loans for consolidation of all your credit card related debts which you may be facing trouble in repaying. With the loan amount you can pay all your existing unpaid credit card bills. These loans are available against security as well as without collateral. Presence of collateral gets you bigger amounts and longer terms. Without collateral you can get quicker financing at competitive rates.

You can search for a credit card debt consolidation loans through internet. Online credit card debt consolidation lenders are becoming the choice of today’s borrower with benefits such as free online quotes and comparison tools, loan calculators, no upfront costs, reduced paperwork, faster application and quicker approvals. Also the online application form is completely secured under data protection act 1998 avoiding misuse of your personal information

Banks and financial authorities are very strict regarding the repayment of the credit cards. A little delay from you………and be ready to face the penalty charges and fine. Non-payments can further lead to legal notices and threatening calls from creditors and ultimately may lead to bankruptcy. After that some lenders may even deny you from taking the loan. So, it’s better to control the situation before it becomes unmanageable through a credit card debt consolidation loan.

There are certain measures which you can follow to keeps your credit card debt controlled after taking a credit card debt consolidation loan such as:

• Lesser number of credit cards

• Use of cash or debit cards if you are uncomfortable in carrying cash.

• Transfer all your credit balances to a card with low interest rate

• Attend credit counseling and debt education programs

• Enroll yourself for credit card debt consolidation plans

All this will help you in avoiding credit card debts and for you present debts credit card debt consolidation loans are here.

Ashley Lewis

Credit Card Debt Relief: How To Put An End To Credit Card Debt

Thousands of people are constantly finding themselves deep in debt due to credit cards. Sometimes they find ways to come up with payments and are able to climb out of their financial hole, but there are other people who do not know of any other way out except to file for bankruptcy.

However, there are many other ways to get credit card debt relief besides filing for bankruptcy, but unfortunately, most people do not seem to be aware of these procedures.

Let’s take a look at how credit card debt builds up. Say you owe $20,000 on a single credit card. That might seem like a huge amount, especially if you do not have the means to pay for it. But the thing is that you did not really spend that entire amount during your shopping sprees. Probably more than half of that amount actually came from accumulated interest rates.

This brings us to the first and probably the best way you can get some credit card debt relief, and that is by negotiating with your credit card company to lower your interest rates. You would be surprised at how many companies would be very willing to grant this request, particularly if you have been with them for quite some time.

In addition to the interest rates, you can also request for them to lower your late fees. Some credit card companies might even be willing to completely waive your late fees if you commit to paying more than the minimum payment for the succeeding months. You can also have some credit card debt relief by requesting for an extension of payment lines.

If you do not have the convincing skills to negotiate with the credit card company on your own, you can always enlist the help of a credit card debt relief company to make the settlements for you. In addition to helping lower your interest rates, most of these financial agencies will also teach you how to manage your credit cards more efficiently in order to ensure continuous credit card debt relief.

However, when choosing a credit card debt relief agency, you have to be very careful as there are many crooks out there posing as helpful institutions but are really just stealing people’s money right from under their noses. It is always a good idea to select a credit card debt relief agency that has an excellent reputation and has been around for quite a while.

Still, if you want to get permanent credit card debt relief, the best solution is to learn how to use your credit cards more sensibly and how to keep yourself from making purchases that are way beyond your budget.

The second technique of achieving credit card debt reduction is by opening a new credit card account with a much lower interest rate. This might sound crazy, because why would you open a new account when you obviously can’t pay off the accounts you already have?

The answer is simple. You will be using this new card not to make new extravagant purchases but to pay off your old debts. Once you transfer your previous debts to the new card, you will obviously be paying a lower interest rate and you will be able to pay off your total debt in no time.

David Faulkner

Credit Card Debt Management: Help to Share Your Credit Card Debt Burden

Initially, credit cards were considered as a luxurious alternative of cash which only few people could possess but with the changing market environment and lifestyles, credit cards have now become the most essential monetary support for almost everyone in the society. Moreover, with the option of credit cards in hands, many people tend to get extravagant and sometimes, even go out of their budget which further promotes problems at the time of credit card bill payment. Hence, though these cards allow an individual to fulfill his requirements instantly but at the same time it can also create major financial complications in the long run. Therefore, it is important for all credit card holders to regularly pay their credit card bills but unfortunately, very few people pay proper heed to these bills and finally get trapped in the vicious web of credit card debts. However, our present financial market is smart enough in providing suitable help for any economic problem and thus, dealing with the piles of credit card debts is also not much of a hassle. Countless financial service providers present in the market are offering the valuable assistance of credit card debt management services for all those people who have maintained multiple credit card debts.

We all know that credit cards have acted as a beneficial monetary tool for the holder, as it sets them free from the toil of carrying cash all the time and especially, for this assistance, people would never stop using credit cards. Hence, it is recommended to use credit cards in planned and manageable manner so that one can easily avoid the problems of debts. Nowadays, many financial firms are providing various credit card debt management plans that mainly talks about the appropriate and sensible utilization of credit cards. Moreover, with good credit card debt management plan, it is assured that credit card holders can settle their due credit card bills in a systematic manner.

One thing that all credit card owners should keep in mind is that once they fail to repay the credited amount, the rate of interest charged on their amount will be extremely high. However, if you take the guidance of a competent credit card debt management service then you may have the chance of getting this rate of interest reduced to a certain level but for this, your concerned debt management service providers have to personally negotiate the terms and conditions with the executives of your credit card company. For all such reasons, nowadays many credit card debtors are searching for competent debt management services, so that their economic status can be raised to some extent.

On usual basis, credit card debt management services are offered to the individuals at free of cost but if you have maintained a huge amount of debts that too with multiple credit card companies then these service provider may charge a minimal amount for their guidance. However, on the other hand, they also give the surety of conducting thorough analysis of the credit card holder's spending habits and then suggest a good debt management plan accordingly, so that all financial problems can be eluded in future.

Ashton Gabriel

Benefits Of Credit Card Debt Relief And Credit Card Debt Management

If you are one of the millions of Americans seeking relief from the pressing and increasing credit card debt, you will probably be interested on credit card debt relief and debt management solutions that can help you get rid of your debt. The different solutions provide you with debt reductions but may affect your credit or finances in diverse levels and ways. Following is a small list of solutions and workarounds to your credit card debt problems:

Is Bankruptcy A Solution?

Bankruptcy is an extreme measure and the consequences of such process are devastating to your credit. A past bankruptcy remains on your credit history for many years even after it is discharged. Only two years after the discharge you have some kind of chances of getting approved for a personal loan and the terms will certainly not be too advantageous. Therefore, you should exhaust all other options prior to filing for bankruptcy. This has been and always be our advice when we receive an inquiry about bankruptcy as a solution to debt problems. Therefore, let’s forget bankruptcy for the time being and only if the other solutions fail, contact a bankruptcy attorney to take care of this issue.

Spending Behavior

The first step for any kind of debt recovery is to stop overspending. It may sound obvious but it isn’t so easy to put this tip in practice. If you are going shopping take a list with you and stick to it, don’t buy anything that is not on the list even if you think it is necessary. You may forget a few things at first but as you gain more control, your list will be complete and you will control your spending with this type of behavior.

If you’ve Already Accumulated too much Debt You Can…

If your credit card debt is unbearable, you can resort to many different solutions. However, it all depends on how pressing the situation is. If you just need some space to keep up with payments you can try to negotiate a lower rate on your credit card. You can do this personally if you are good at negotiations or you can resort to a debt consolidation agency. A lower rate will provide you with lower monthly payments and less accumulated interests. However, if you have too much debt, the monthly installments may still be too high to cope with.

Debt Settlement Services Might Solve Your Problem

An interesting alternative is to hire debt settlement services. Legal and financial advisors will contact your creditors and discuss the terms of an arrangement that will probably imply debt reductions and the reprogramming of the repayment schedule. However, you need to take into consideration the consequences that debt settlements imply for your credit score. During negotiations the debt settlement company my halt all payments in order to get a better negotiating stance but that can damage your credit for some time. So if you will need financing in the near future, you may want to consider other options.

Lara Sawyer

Lowering Credit Card Debt - 3 Tips To Eliminating Credit Card Debt

Eliminating your credit card debt is as simple as switching lenders. By finding better interest rates, you can shave off years from your payment schedule and save thousands of dollars in interest charges. With these three tips, even with the same monthly payment you can lower your credit card debt.

1. Get Better Rates On Your Card

Make your monthly payment go further by getting better rates on your credit cards. Opening a new account with an excellent introductory offer, like 0% on transfers, will immediately help you get a jump on paying off your debt. Just remember that some transfers are not allowed if the same financial company holds both cards.

If you don’t qualify for low rates because of bad credit, check into debt consolidation services. They can negotiate lower rates with your creditors while handling your monthly payments for a small fee.

2. Divide And Conquer Your Debt

Once you have lowered your interest rates, you can begin to conquer your debt by paying off accounts with a strategy. Take the savings from your lower rates and apply it to the card with the lowest balance. When you have that card paid off, start making payments on the next highest balance. The snowball affect will eliminate your debt in no time.

3. Consolidate For Lower Rates And A Payment Schedule

Consolidating your credit card debt into one easy to pay loan can help you qualify for even lower rates and give you a structured payment schedule. With secured loan, such as a home equity line of credit, you qualify for some of the lowest rates available. In some cases, you may also get a tax benefit from using your home’s equity.

Consolidating your debt also helps you control your payments by selecting terms that meet your budget needs. So you can choose five, ten, or more years to pay off your debt. You can plan around a fixed payment or choose to pay off the principal early.

Whether you choose to apply for a new credit card or a loan, make sure you shop for the lowest rates and fees. A few minutes requesting and comparing quotes will save you money that could be better spent on paying off your debt.

Carrie Reeder

Credit Card Debt Reduction - 3 Tips To Lowering Credit Card Debt

Credit card debt can be reduced through lower rates or negotiating for reduced balances. With reduced interest, you can pay off the principal quicker with the same monthly payment. The other approach is debt settlement, which eliminates part of your debt at the cost of your credit score.

1. Transfer Balances

Credit card companies are always offering introductory deals, such as 0% on transfers. Usually such offers last for several months, giving you the chance to make sizeable payments on your principal.

If you have several credit cards, choose to transfer the account with the smallest amount. Pay off that account, then take that card’s monthly payment and apply it to your next lowest balance. Soon you will be creating a snowball affect, swiftly lowering your debt. Make sure to close paid off accounts to raise your credit score and keep from adding to your debt.

2. Negotiate Lower Rates

Credit card companies are also willing to lower rates. You can try to do this on your own, but you will have more success with a debt management company. For a monthly fee, they will lower rates with credit card companies and handle your monthly payments.

Debt management plans can affect your credit temporarily if your creditors report delayed or reduced payments. This might prevent you from opening new accounts for a year or more. However, with such plans you can be out of short term debt in less than five years with a much better credit score.

3. Settle For Reduction In Debt

Debt negotiation is the most drastic step to lower your credit card debt since it has long term affects on your credit. A debt negotiation company can settle some of your debt with creditors. Lenders will then report the reduced amount to the credit reporting agencies, which will keep it on your record for seven years. Debt negotiation is similar to bankruptcy and can prevent you from qualifying for conventional credit for a couple of years.

Reducing your credit card debt will have long term benefits for you. Less credit means better rates when you do want to apply for financing, especially with a home or car purchase. No matter which option you choose, research companies carefully and compare their services and fees.

Carrie Reeder

Hitting the 401K

There is sometimes a sense of panic that sets in when you see your credit card bills begin to spiral out of control. When you are fairly new to that sense of being trapped by credit, you may turn to a second mortgage. But then if the credit card bills continue to grow and grow, as they are designed to do, you suddenly realize you have put your home on the line and it might now be in danger if you default on those bills.

This is when that mountain of debt can begin to knock on the door of your last remaining resources to try to fight back and you have to make some important decisions. And one is whether it would be a good idea to cash in your retirement money or borrow on your 401K to get enough money to try to bring down your debt levels. So deciding whether this is a good idea is a huge gamble because if you win, you could eliminate debt entirely. But if you lose, there goes your protection for your senior years and maybe the little nest egg you wanted to pass along to the kids as an inheritance.

Hitting the 401K to pay off your credit card debt is a bad idea for a lot of reasons. The most obvious reason is that your retirement money is tax deferred so when you put it into that account, you didn’t pay any taxes on it. You don’t have to pay taxes on it until you take it out. On top of that, the money is intended to stay in reserve until you hit retirement age so in a lot of cases, if you take it out early, there is a big penalty you have to pay.

So right away if you cash out your retirement funds to pay down or pay off your credit card debt, you are losing a lot of money to those penalties and taxes. You might want to calculate how much that penalty is going to be compared to the interest you might save because it’s a big pay off just to get to those funds.

The prevailing logic of hitting the 401k is that in theory you will save more money from the interest than you would make from the investment. But there is some solid logic for leaving those retirement funds right where hey are. For one thing, debt will come and go but retirement funds have a tendency to going away and never coming back. Once you cash out those retirement funds and give the money over to credit card debt, your retirement is gone. But if you find ways to take care of that credit card debt and leave your retirement alone, it is there for you and you have that sense of ownership that the debt has not taken everything from you.

One possible alternative is to borrow against your 401K and use it as collateral. Now in this case you are still just swapping out debt for debt. But secured debt is often easier to get a favorable interest rate and you can cap it so the rate doesn’t float around like credit card debt. So there is some rational for going that route. But if that is an option, you are still putting a very important part of your financial future on the line so tread carefully.

Your Secret Weapon Against Credit Card Debt

The television advertisements and dozens of junk mail advertisements you get all make big promises. They are real good at selling the idea that they can get you out of credit card debt with some phenomenal program or secret weapon that you can find only by coming to them. When you think about it, these people are pretty despicable. They are seeking to make money by preying on people who already are deep in debt. The want to victimize the victims and in many societies, they put people in jail for that.

Anyway, you and I both know that most of those slick marketing productions that pitch getting you out of credit card debt through some sophisticated and costly program are a bunch of hot air. But there is a secret weapon right under your nose that if you can set off its amazing power, it can get you out of credit card debt and keep you there.

This secret weapon is pretty amazing and you know we aren’t trying to market anything to you because this secret weapon doesn’t cost anything, doesn’t require you send off for anything and you can find it right in your own home and put it to work immediately at no cost to you. But it is also a secret weapon that is not “sexy” and it will not make you go “OOO” and “AHH” by impressing you with its slick design.

The secret weapon is a budget. See, we told you it wasn’t a sexy solution. But when you analyze why you have the credit card debt in the first place, putting a rock solid budget in place is the foundation of a long term solution to your problem. The marketers can give you all kinds of fancy analysis and discussion on the cause of credit card debt in your life that will put the blame on everything from the foreign exchange rate to immigration to global warming. But it doesn’t do you a bit of good to point fingers about the problem. The only thing that will do you good is to give you the tools and weapons to fix it.

There is just no getting around it, you are in trouble with your credit because you are living above your means. In other words, you are spending more than you make. This isn’t to throw a lot of blame and guilt around. There are a lot of situations that can cause you to live above your means. You could lose your job or have an emergency in the family that can cause you financial worries. But when the money going out is the more money than is coming in, you have a problem that will drive up your credit card debt.

To write a budget, you simply sit down and take inventory of those two factors. You inventory how much money you have coming in. Then you inventory how much money you have to pay out. This step alone is a huge step forward toward getting your debt problem under control. A computer spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel is excellent for this kind of family budget planning and analysis because you can move things around and let the computer do the math for you.

Don’t make excuses about this. If you don’t know how much a certain kind of spending costs you, dig out your receipts for the last few months and get a feel for it. But once you know your income and your bills, you can tell if there is a gap. Then you can make plans to close that gap either by getting more income or by cutting out some bills or both.

It won’t be easy and it won’t be fun. But if you get on a budget and stay there, you have the basic foundation for a solid family financial plan and you can move forward from there. You may go on to use some other tools to bring your credit card debt under control such as credit card consolidation or balance transfers. But don’t do a thing before you find that secret weapon and make it start working for you. And that secret weapon is a realizing and reliable family budget.

Avoiding Credit Card Debt Before it Sneaks up on You

In this modern time where the economy has been such a challenge for everyday people like you and me to keep up, it’s easy to get into credit trouble when your credit bills begin to stack up. So if you are in the position to just start learning the ropes of the world of credit cards, there are a lot of things you can do to avoid credit card debt before it sneaks up on you and keep your nose clean, as they say.

This is an outstanding goal for you if you are just getting your first credit cards. If you know or talk to anyone who is battling tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt, you know what a jail sentence it can be. Once that credit card debt gets that high, the time it will take even under the best of conditions to bring it down runs into the years if not decades. And for all that time, thousands of dollars of money goes down the drain to credit interest that doesn’t buy you any food, tickets to the movies or new clothes. It just goes away with no value to you at all.

But if you are new to the world of credit, getting a credit card is a good thing. But once you get one, keeping it under control is job one. You will find it amazingly easy to use a credit card once it comes. In fact, the retail world makes it difficult to conduct transactions any other way. You can pay for gas at the pump that way and even charge your groceries at the grocery store. And while all of these great uses for credit are helpful, you can end up with a whopper of a credit card bill at the end of the month. And if you don’t pay that bill off, that is the first step on a lifelong jail term in credit card debt jail.

So there are some guidelines you should follow to both use credit responsibly but also to keep building your credit rating which has a real value to you. Remember that what the credit card companies don’t tell you is that making a charge on a credit card is a loan. Even if you just charge ten bucks to go to the movies, you took out an unsecured loan to finance that movie ticket.

So once you start using a credit card, keep in mind that you will be paying back everything you run up on it. It is NOT free money. A good practice is to save every receipt every month and keep a running tally of what you have spent on credit. Now only can you use that to cross check your credit card, it keeps you honest because each time you add a charge to your credit card, you can update your tally so you know for certain that you will be able to pay it off when the bill comes.

Paying off the credit card each month is the number one best way to keep your credit problems under control. Now it isn’t a bad idea to let a little bit of the debt drift from month to month. This builds your credit history and credit rating which will pay you well down the road when you want to buy a larger purchase. But by staying on top of your credit and what is going onto your card, you will start out with the kind of habits that will lead to a life of good credit use without credit card jail. And that is a wonderful gift to give yourself early in life.

The Route Out of Debt

There is no question that having some credit cards is a great way to pay for things that is more convenient and even safer than always paying cash. And it really isn’t practical to pay with everything by check because so many purchases would be slowed down by that method or retailers just don’t accept them like they used to.

In many cases, having a credit card is down right necessary. Any more buying gas involves using a credit card at the pump which saves time and effort. And because a credit card always delivers a report to you at the end of the month in statement, it’s an easy way to keep track of how you are spending your money.

The problem comes when you spend more on the credit card than you can repay. Unfortunately, credit card companies are not there to keep you from living beyond your means. If you make your payments on time and are a responsible credit card owner, they will keep increasing your credit limit so you can charge all you want. But when the debt level on those credit cards becomes a debt you carry from month to month, that is when credit card debt can get out of control.

You don’t need to be told that good financial management is the key to keeping your credit card debt problem at bay. But sometimes the bills stack up and circumstances beyond your control call on you to use that extra credit and you end up with a credit card bill that is becoming uncontrollable. That is when you have to turn to alternate methods to build a route out of debt and back to a firm financial footing.

One of the real culprits of getting out of debt to the credit cards you own are the high interest rates that are often charged to service that debt. If you have to pay 15%, 20% or more for a large credit card debt, the amount you pay in that actually brings down the principle is so small that the time when you can expect to be debt free is far into the future.

So the first step is to move that debt to a credit vehicle that is more manageable. There are a number of ways to do this using resources you may already have at your disposal. Many turn to a second mortgage on their home. By working with your mortgage company, they can advance you another loan based on the amount of equity you have in your house and that interest rate can be capped at a reasonable level so you can pay down that debt and not keep fighting that ever rising interest rate problem.

You can also look at your life insurance to see if you can draw a loan against that accumulated value. If you have been paying on it for many years, a life insurance policy that carries value such as a whole life policy may have enough equity that you can use that money to leverage your debt and retire the credit card debt entirely. You may still have to face a regular payment to pay off the life insurance loan but it is manageable and something you can budget against which puts the control back in your hands.

A third option is to use a professional debt consolidation company. This is yet another credit resource who will be making money from the loan via interest. But this kind of agency is not a credit card company so they will just loan you enough to retire your debt and then work with you to work down that debt while living within your means otherwise.

Once you select the right route out of debt you are going to use, it’s important you do not let that credit card debt climb up again. Learning good budget skills and working to keep your lifestyle within your means is crucial to not only getting out of debt but staying that way. But with good money management, a responsible debt consolation plan working for you and a mature approach to your finances, you can see daylight on getting out of debt once and for all.

Divorce and Credit Card Debt

When a marriage comes to an end, it’s always a tragedy. Of course the rending of the family unit and the difficulty for the kids is the hardest thing about separating at divorce. But the difficulty of separating one house into two can be difficult and tedious to say the least. You have to go from one checking account to two, two homes instead of one and separate accounts for everything from credit cards to utilities.

The is an additional overhead to how to handle a divorce situation if in addition to splitting your assets, credit card debt that may have been a part of the shared family financial picture also must be split up. To the credit card company, that family credit card is the property of that shared entity which was the marriage. So when the union splits up, the transition from a financial point of view of your accounts separating is not over night.

So one of the many issues to be discussed and a plan made for is how to separate that credit card debt. Whoever continues to hold the family accounts will continue to get those bills and be expected to pay them. Now the least preferable way to handle the debt is to build the payments into any forced settlement agreement such as child support. So at the time the divorce is final, the amount of the debt and the payments that must be made could be calculated and half of that put into the amount that the income generating partner must provide.

But that leaves the management of those credit card debts to one partner and the other one just has to pay a set amount. And if the credit cards get used by either partner, that legal amount would have to constantly be changed and that would prove to be a constant headache of administration.

If the divorce is a shared responsibility so each spouse can work with the other to adjust the financial picture in an advantageous way, then how to separate the credit card debt should be part of that planning. Part of that planning is how to use shared assets to pay down that debt. You may have a home that will be sold, retirement accounts or other assets that were set aside for the future of the marriage. Before you sell those things, close those accounts and distribute the funds, look at using the outcome to retire that shared debt.

But it’s likely some of that debt load will live on past the divorce. In those cases splitting into two individual accounts may be the way to go. In that way, if the family was carrying $10,000 in debt, if each marriage partner walks away with $5000 of the debt, that is at least fair and equitable and how each individual handles that debt is up to them.

There are two ways you can go about splitting the credit card debt. If the debt is with a carrier with whom you can negotiate and conduct a dialog, getting a meeting or having a conference call with the managers there would be productive. The credit card company would far rather negotiate with you how to handle this debt load then deal with it chaotically after the fact. So they may be willing to set up separate individual accounts and split the debt for you.

But you can always use the method many of us have used to manage credit card debt up until now. Each of you can set up some new separate credit card accounts. You no doubt have dozens of credit card offers coming in that you can use to kick off this process. Almost always part of the set up offers for these accounts are balance transfers. So if you take out individual accounts and use the balance transfers to move each partners shared part of the debt to those accounts, that would be a clean way to split the debt up.

There may be adjustments to be made to the 50-50 split idea based on who is the primary bread winner and maybe who ran up the debt and on what. But by negotiating the terms of how you are going to separate the credit card debt when you separate the marriage, that will be one more than that you are handling in a mature and responsible manner in the middle of a very tough situation.

The Jail Cell of Credit Card Debt

There is a thing as what the experts call “the problem solving process”. This is a systematic method for solving problems that you always use to go from the starting point where the problem is to the ending point where the problem is resolved. There are six basic steps to the problem solving process and none of them can be skipped. They are…

1. Recognize the problem
2. Define the problem
3. Propose solutions
4. Identify risks and costs
5. Select the best solution
6. Implement the solution.

This process always works because there is no room for emotions, excuses or procrastination. You step from the first phase to the last in prompt fashion and the problem becomes solved.

Many times when it comes to credit card debt, people don’t like to recognize the problem. In 12 step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous, the first step is always to just recognize that you have a problem. And this is very often the biggest obstacle for someone who is seeing their credit card debt begin to take over their lives.

The credit card companies are no help. They like nothing more than to do all they can to make you incur more and more debt. It isn’t necessarily that they are evil but this is how they make a living. The money from the interest you pay on your credit card debt goes to pay for the houses, meals, college educations and fancy cars of many credit card company executives. That alone should make you want to pull the plug on this grand scam called credit card debt.

Let’s call a spade a spade. Credit card debt is a loan that you don’t have to fill out any more paperwork than just to get the card. Once you have it, the credit card companies are thrilled to jack up your credit limit to where you can buy more and more and more all the while your interest rate creeps up too. Before long the debt level is huge and you are sending them hundreds of dollars and a big part of that payment is the interest.

Interest is money that doesn’t buy anything. It is money the credit card company gets for doing nothing more than housing your debt. If we could get perspective on credit card debt, we would see that there is no rational explanation why one credit card can charge 5% interest and another one charge 25% interest. The credit card companies owe us no explanation of what that money goes for.

It’s not like when you buy a loaf of bread that may cost one dollar for one kind of bread but three dollars for another kind of bread. In those cases you can easily see that the higher priced bread is of higher quality, tastes better or is more nutritious than the cheap bread. You literally get more for your money. When a credit card company charges you a higher rate of interest, there is no increased value for what they give you. They don’t give you anything. If a credit card company raises your interest rate from 10% to 20%, you don’t get twice as much good service or any kind of product for that extra money that are taking out of your product.

Then how can they get away with it? They do it because they can get away with it and there’s no indication that any governmental body is going to make them stop. They get away with it because we don’t get outraged and drop them when they cheat us like that. And they get away with it because credit card debt is a jail cell and we can’t get out.

The purpose of this discussion is to get us to step one of the problem solving process. It is to make us aware that we are being had and to make you good and outraged. If you are outraged that you have a problem, then you can move on to step two and there and four and look for a solution and then do whatever it takes to make that solution happen. And when you do that, you are well on your way to springing open the door of the jail cell of credit card debt and walking away a free man or woman, hopefully never to go into that jail again.

Getting Everybody Into the Act

In most families, there is one person whose job it is to take care of the family budget. It usually is dad or mom and it is that adult’s job to make sure all the bills are paid and that the family budget is healthy so the family can afford the good things everyone needs to live a comfortable life. This is an important job because no family can continue to function without a viable and realistic budget. Many have said that if a lot of companies or even our country were to be run with the same sense of reality and making the books balance that the average mom uses, we would all be better off.

The only problem with this system is sometimes its easy to look at the family budget as “mom’s problem” or the problem of whoever it is that takes care of paying the bills. So when a serious problem comes up like an explosion of credit card bills, mom can get pretty overwhelmed especially if there is no way to curb credit card spending so there can always be enough on hand to pay those bills off.

This is where taking on the challenge of beating high credit card debt has to be everybody’s job. For starters, everyone needs to know the limits on spending. It does no good if the person who does the budget knows exactly how much everyone can spend on food, entertainment and new things but nobody else follows those rules. If the other spouse and the kids are out on the town on a spending spree, that is going to overwhelm the budget.

So if that is one of the sources of credit card abuse in your family, its time for the family to get together and have a discussion. Each member of the family must understand that there is such a thing as fiscal responsibility and if credit card abuse is done by any one member of the family, the privilege of that credit card is going to be taken away.

But the family unit can really become a powerful force for change when it comes to taking on a mountain sized credit card debt. It will take some skill to present the challenge to the family that defeating this foe must be a family job and everybody has to get into the act. But if you do get everybody in on the challenge and take it on as a big adventure, not only will it bring about a lot of family unity, it can be a lot of fun too.

The attack plan must be seen as just that, an aggressive attack on the credit card problem that can threaten the family’s financial safety. That is cutting costs. Have everyone in the family come up with one way to save money each week. It might be as simple as turning off their lights before leaving for school or as ambitious as giving up cable TV or cutting in half the amount of times they have to go to the movies. If each person can contribute one big cost savings a week, that sense of accomplishment and self esteem for pitching in to win this war with credit card debt will pay off.

In the same way, if each member can think of ways to increase income, that can really help the budget out. It might mean the kids picking up more chores so dad and mom can work second jobs for a little while. It might even mean that the kids will do some chores or take part time jobs and add a little to the budget from what they make. But whatever the contribution, if everybody gets into the act, the family can win against credit card debt. And that is a worthwhile family project.

Time to Get Good and Angry About That Credit Card Debt

There is something strange about what happens to all of us psychologically when we see our credit card debt just keep climbing and climbing with no end in sight. For some reason, our emotional reaction is often one of ambivalence or even acceptance as though having a mountain of debt to credit card companies is a part of life and no big deal.

But it is a big deal. When a huge portion of your monthly budget goes to servicing debt, it’s a big deal because that money could be going toward a better house, a new car or even just for something fun for you or your family. Whatever it might buy is a lot better than it just being thrown away as interest on a ridiculously high credit mountain.

So as much as we all do strive for peace and keeping a positive attitude about life, in order to get some motivation to get out there and defeat this monster we call credit card debt, it might be time to get good and angry about the way credit cards handle our accounts and find the guts to finally find a way to just up and fire them.

In the retail world, it is a crime to use false advertising or pull off hat is called “bait and switch”. Bait and switch is a tactic where they advertise a price for a retail item and then when you get to the store, the price is wrong on the shelf or for some other reason (like, we ran out of the ones at the sale price), they bilk you into paying the non-sale price. That’s cheating and it’s wrong.

Credit card companies are the international grand champions of bait and switch. When they send you those glossy, well worded invitations to low interest, “no cost” credit cards, they have no intention of honoring that offer. Oh sure, they might set up the accounts that way. But if you read the fine print of what you are signing when you apply for the credit card, they retain the right to change the rules of how your credit bill is handled without notice and without restrictions. That means that even if they said there will be no annual fee, they can impose one and there isn’t a darn thing you can do about it.

Even more outrageous is the fact that credit card companies can and often do raise the cost of what you are paying for the goods or services you bought using your credit card, again without any notice at all. So if you bought a refrigerator on your credit card which at the time was charging 8% interest, the credit card company can up and raise your interest level to 20% overnight, with no reason for doing so and with no notice to you. So what just happened is they jacked up the price of the refrigerator you bought and you have to pay it. If that doesn’t get you good and mad, well, it should.

If you watch how the credit card companies handle your accounts, you can tell they are looking for any excuse to raise your rates. If your payment comes in an hour late, they can double your rates. And guess what? They are the ones who determine if your payment came in late. So if you mail it a week and a half a head of time, they can still claim it as late and jack up your interest rate and impose a huge penalty for late payment.

It’s just amazing and completely outrageous that credit card companies are able to change the rules of how you do business with them with no respect for you as a customer and with no intervention by any federal agency. In fact, the concept that the federal government is in the pockets of the credit card companies is reinforced over and over again.

Getting good and mad about credit card debt can mobilize you to do some things that are long overdue. It might be overdue for you to contact your congressman and start putting them on notice that we aren’t going to take this anymore. But it is definitely overdue for you to see the credit card companies for what they are and fire them by getting rid of that credit card debt once and for all.