Debt Elimination
Ask a friend what resolutions they made for 2004 and your
bound to hear them reply “Pay off my credit cards.” Ask them how
they planned on reaching that goal and many of them will not
have a clear cut answer.
The obvious first step to paying off credit card debt or
paying down credit debt load is to cut back or eliminate the use
of your credit cards. For some people this first step can often
be the most difficult. If you’re used to spending freely with
plastic and worrying about the consequences later, it’s
difficult to break free from this “buy now, pay later” attitude.
To gain control of their careless credit card spending
habits, some people cut up their credit cards therefore making
it impossible to use them. Others lock up their credit cards or
hide them in a safe place and vow to use them only in an
emergency.
The second step to paying down credit debt is to pay more
than the minimum balance due. Most credit card companies require
a minimum monthly payment of 2.5% of the outstanding balance.
For example, if you have an outstanding balance of $1100.00 on a
credit card charging an Annual Percentage Rate (APR) of 18.9%
your minimum monthly payment would be $27.50. It will take you
66 months or 5.5 years to pay off your balance of $1100.00
making the minimum payments. The credit card company will make
$676.94 in interest from your use of their credit card.
Monthly payments are purposely kept low by the credit card
companies so that they can earn as much as possible from the
interest rate charged to you the consumer. Paying just the
minimum payment will keep you tangled in credit’s web for years
and years to come.
If you’ve been paying only the minimum due month after month,
ask yourself this question, “Do I have an extra $10.00 I could
apply to this month’s payment?” I’m sure that most of us could
find some way to come up with an extra $10.00 for the month. Try
cutting out a few cups of coffee or lunches at your nearby fast
food outlets and in no time flat you’ll have saved up the extra
money that you need.
Now, it’s time to unveil “The Simple $10.00 Debt Elimination
Solution.” Take that extra $10.00 and add it to the minimum
monthly payment above, therefore making a payment of $37.50. By
adding just that $10.00 a month to your minimum payment, you’ll
trim 23 months or nearly two years off of that credit debt! On
top of that you’ll save $277.00 in interest alone! That’s money
you can put toward savings or paying off other debts. Imagine
how much you’d be able to save if you applied this same simple
strategy to each of your other credit card debts!
Paying down credit debt doesn’t always mean having to make
huge monthly payments or sacrifices. It just takes some basic
planning and a simple effective strategy to make it work.
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