brandoline94
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First and foremost, stop using them. Then the best way to pay off credit card debt is to make minimum payments on all of your cards except the one with the highest interest rate. Then, pay whatever the largest amount that you can afford to that card every month until it's paid off. Follow that strategy on the next highest interest rate, then the next. There are calculators that you can find on the internet that can show you the benefits of paying them off this way.
If you can't afford to ever make more than the minimums, there are credit counseling services that will contact credit card companies and try to get them to lower or eliminate your interest rates while you are trying to pay them off. These companies figure out a budget for you based on your lifestyle and all of your expenses. Most of the time, you then pay them a lump sum that they distribute for you to all of your bills. Just do a search for credit counselors on Yahoo. |
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lbniblack
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Pay your bills as quickly as possible and stop using credit cards! |
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Lori A
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What do you mean take care of it?
Your best bet is to pay it off. Start with the highest interest rate card first. Basically what you do is make minimum payments to all cards and pay the highest rate one more..as much as you can. When that's gone, use the money you used to give them to the next highest, and so on.
As to consolidating it and getting a lower rate? Quite frankly unless you have perfect credit or can borrow against your home, these loans are nearly impossible to get and can end up increasing what you eventually pay.
You can either take out a second mortgage against your house or refinance but this too costs money and you end up reducing your equity in your home which means that if you end up in deeper financial trouble, your house payment will be higher and you could risk losing your home.
If you're really in trouble, meaning starting to pay late or struggling, then there are credit counseling agencies that can help you get out of trouble faster and usually reduce the fees and interest rates on your cards.
If you look into one of the credit counselors, look for one acredited by the NFCC (see link below). Some of the companies doing this are crooks that will keep a month or more of payments for themselves, then charge high fees. The good ones don't. Fees are minimal and your creditors get money right away.
There are some consequences to your credit if you use one, so if you are struggling but not yet running late, it may pay to talk straight to the credit card companies. Sometimes...they can be agreeable and cut your rates. Often they aren't but it is worth a try and costs you nothing to do so.
Best of luck. |
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kmburnette
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Go to Crown.org. Subscribe to their podcasts so that you can get daily financial counseling. Next, sign up for their Money Map and buy the book Free and Clear. Even if you don't subscribe to the Christian foundation, these two tools offer valuable information. They will help you to get out of debt and then to use that money to invest in your future. You will learn to save, give and celebrate. The Money Map leads to Financial Freedom (not having to work). Each destination gives you suggestions on resources that will be helpful to you.
The first thing you should do is know where your money is going. You can't control it if you don't know where it is.
Good luck! |
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Khaavren
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Don't use your credit card unless you can afford to pay it off at the end of the month. The best way to avoid credit card debt is to just not use it. |
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Christina
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Always pay at least the minimum payment due! If you don't your interest rate will sky rocket and you will have problems getting accepted for new credit accounts. |
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redunicorn
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The best way is to refinance your home and pay them off. Then stop using them! |
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DogLover
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Credit counseling services can help out. I know of AFS, for one. They work with your creditors to reduce or eliminate your finance charges and payments, putting them all into one lump sum that is automatically dedcuted from your account each month. |
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Money Maven
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pay it off as soon as you can. :)
seriously, pay your current balance in full every month so you don't add to your debt plus pay any additional you can every month. those agencies who offer to help are generally not trustworthy, avoid them. |
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tlenz04
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find a 0 interest credit card and lump the money toether |
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Tygirljojo
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If you're in it bad - your local consumer credit counseling service. Literally, it'll ususally call itself Consumer Credit Counseling Services of (for example) Seattle. |
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NateD
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Credit counseling services will only serve to make your credit look worse than it is. with some support and discipline, you can pay off this debt, but it won't be as easy as it was when you got it. as others have stated, stop using the cards - if you can't pay cash, you don't need it. If you are behind on any, call them and make arrangements to get current. If you are already current, then pay as much as possible on the smallest one to get rid of it while paying the minimum on the others, and as you get rid of each smaller debt, you're encouraged because you are making progress. It will take time, but don't give up |
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VirtueOfIntolerance
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ask here:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Dave_Ramsey_Debt_Beaters/
No, don't use your mortgage to pay for it, you could be in trouble if your house goes down in value (YES IT CAN HAPPEN)
Don't call any company. You end up paying them and they don't care about your situation as much as you do. Plus using some of those companies can damage your credit rating.
Go through the baby steps that Dave Ramsey recommends.
find out using the link. |
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WendyLou
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Put your credit card(s) in a freezer bag, fill it with water and put it in the freezer. You can't impulse buy now and can concentrate on getting rid of your debt. I tried it and haven't used my card for 2 months! |
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starsindesertsky_1
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Call Money Management. They will try to lower your intrest rates and set up a payment that is due once a month instead of how ever many cards you have. This keeps you from using them because you have to close all of the accounts. Therefore, only using the money you have :) |
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NEHEMIAH M
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Try your best to consolidate all of your credit cards into only one. It's much easier to keep track of just one bill a month than a dozen.
Once you have consolidated, try transferring the balances to credit cards offering an introductory 0% rate. Sometimes you'll get offers for a year at 0%. Then try as hard as you can to pay off as fast as you can. Cut your expenses to the bone and you'll be out of debt in no time. |
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