Accumulating out of control credit card debt is one of the most common consumer pitfalls in the country. Using a credit card to pay for something now seems so much easier than to wait until you have hard cash or money in your checking account later. Credit card debt can be a serious burden and one that many people flounder beneath. It can difficult and discouraging to see no end to the burdensome interest payments of a high-interest credit card. Yet, not all hope is lost. There is a solution.
You can use the following three-point strategy to deal a deathblow to your overwhelming credit card debt and find financial freedom along the way.
1. Quit using the credit cards! This is a mandatory first step. Don't use them anymore. The idea behind this is to halt the debt cycle so you are not adding more debt by making more purchases. All of those unnecessary expenditures that you make each week that seem so natural have to go if you are going to see the light of day, financially speaking.
2. Pay more on your card balance. Why should you pay more? The reason you should pay more than the required monthly payment is interest. Your card's interest rate is a major liability because you are paying so much of it each month and not really touching the principal amount. With an inflated credit card balance, you will spend all of your time paying interest, which leaves your balance basically the same after you've paid it. This will continue to be the case and you will not make any meaningful progress to eliminate your credit card debt. Pay a set amount above what the minimum balance is and do it consistently.
3. Revolutionize your perspective on spending. Your desire to remove the burden of credit card debt is doomed failure if you do not deal with your spending habits. It does not matter if you are able to implement the first two points of this strategy if you turn around and undermine them the next month, by how you spend. It can be tempting to use your card on those "insignificant" purchases again, if you have paid the balance down. The credit card is best seen as an emergency fund rather than a regular resource.
If want to make the strategy work over time, you will need to examine how you use your cards now and find out if there are ways to use regular money sources or even avoid the purchase entirely. With a ready source of funds that you were not required to earn at a job, it is not a surprise that many turn to credit cards to fulfill their material whims. We all want something now without having to wait for it.
Since this is a habit that is hard to break, using the three-point strategy will be challenge that requires you to have perseverance and patience. Do not give up to quickly. Results are achievable and the potential for total financial freedom is there for the taking for someone who hates bearing the yoke of debt month after month.
