The number of Americans that are in credit card debt is astounding. Recent statistics show that more than 50% of Americans make less than they spend within a given year. With these startling statistics is no surprise that we are a nation that thinks it's okay to spend first and pay later. It's exactly this type of thinking that drives our nation, further and further in debt. There is, however, a solution to this national epidemic. Credit repair and credit card debt removal can be achieved, but it is best achieved the right way, the old-fashioned way.
It's important to keep in mind that the old-fashioned way to credit repair and credit card debt elimination is far from the easy way. The mentality in our country has recently been the easy way out, when it comes to our financial troubles. After all, racking up those credit cards was easy, why shouldn't paying off those credit cards be just as easy. With responsibility lacking in this country as well, people are in constant search of the easy solution.
These individuals are targeted by the get out of debt quick schemes, so often portrayed in TV or newspaper advertising. These unscrupulous debt negotiation services promised the world with little to no effort. But, what they often will not tell you is that many of these debt negotiation services will cost you, and cost you dearly. One of the first things these outfits do when you hire their services is tell you to stop making your credit card payments immediately. This allows them more bargaining room, when negotiating your credit down. These services do not come cheap, so you will have to pay in order to utilize these techniques. The biggest problem with these techniques is that your credit is often destroyed. When you stop making your credit card payments, the credit card company, report this all on your credit report. So, you're paying for these services, which may reduce the debt yet to pay, but it comes at expense, net expense being your credit. Now, the goal should be credit repair, not credit ruin.
The best solution to credit card debt repair is to pay off what you owe. For some, this may seem like a novel concept, in today's world, where many don't seem to care about responsibility. But, this is the responsible way to handle the debt did you create. It may take hard work, sweat and even tears but you'll get it done. Not only will you learn a valuable lesson by doing so, but you'll be rewarded as well.
Now, when it comes to credit repair, there are a few techniques you can utilize to clear your credit report. The first step is to get a copy of your credit report. This can actually be done for free; you do not need to pay an expensive service to take a look at your credit report. Our government provides us with the ability to get a free credit report from just one site, the site being, annual credit report dot com. You will need to provide a bunch of personal information, as this is truly a free service, issued by our government. The only drawback to this is that you can only get a free credit report once a year. However, you can get a report from all three major reporting agencies.
Once you have your credit or to evaluate, you can see, what is wrong with your credit report, if anything at all. It is not uncommon to find mistakes, when evaluating credit reports. These mistakes are exactly what you're looking for. You can keep these cleared with your individual credit cards after addressing the issue. Also, there are often marks on your credit record that you're unaware of. You may have some unpaid debts, long forgotten. Keeping these debts paid off and squared away, we'll have a big impact on your credit repair.
The important thing to learn from all this is that paying off your credit card debt, the right way, isn't necessarily the easy way. So, get started on paying off your credit card debt today, follow-up with proper credit repair, and you'll be rewarded in the form of better credit. This will open up the doors for your financial future.
In Credit Card Debt
Few people would deny that using credit cards can make day to day life more simple, reducing the need to carry cash and making it easy to shop online and by telephone.
However, spending with plastic can sometimes be a little too easy, as it doesn't always feel like you're actually parting with any cash. This means the temptation is to spend without thinking about the consequences too carefully, until you hear the ominous thud of a huge credit card bill hitting the doormat.
If you've been caught out like this, the size of your card debt may seem overwhelming, but don't panic - there are a few simple steps you can take to start getting your debt back under control.
Try and make a little more than the minimum payments:
The minimum payments required by credit card companies have steadily fallen over the years. Where once it was typical to have to repay a minimum of 5% of your balance every month, it's now common to only have to pay 2.5% or 3%. With repayments this small in proportion to your debt, a large chunk of each payment gets swallowed up in interest charges. Depending on the APR rate of your card, up to 75% of each payment could be 'lost' in this way, meaning that it takes a very long time for your balance to reduce to any great extent.
By trying to repay more than the minimum, even if only by a little, you can speed this process up, and in the long term you'll end up paying much less in interest charges.
Prioritize your card debts:
If you have more than one card with different rates of interest, it makes sense concentrate on the one with the highest interest charges. This means not just the one with the highest interest rate, but the one which actually charges you most each month, which could have a lower rate but a higher balance.
Check your statements to see which card is costing you most in interest each month, and try to focus on repaying this card first by putting any spare cash you have into extra payments while keeping to the minimums on your other cards.
Change your card:
The credit card market is very competitive, and rates have fallen over the last few years. You may be stuck with an old card charging an old rate that is much higher than newer cards. If you can get a new card with a lower rate and transfer your account balance on to it, you could save a lot in interest charges, helping you to bring down your debt. If you can get a card with an introductory rate on balance transfers then all the better - you'll get a few months of interest free credit which you can use to really drive down your balance as 100% of each repayment will be helping to clear your debt.
Debt consolidation:
If getting a cheaper card isn't an option or isn't something you feel happy about, then maybe a consolidation loan would be worth considering. If you take out a loan and use the money to pay off all your card debts, you could benefit from a lower rate as loans are normally quite a bit cheaper than credit cards.
The downside to these loans is that the repayment period might be quite long, and so even though your monthly repayments will hopefully be lower, you'll stay in debt for longer and so end up paying more in interest. Done carefully, however, consolidation can be a sound move if there's little chance of clearing your debt in any other way.
Watch your spending!
All the above strategies for getting your debt under control will only work if you stop getting deeper into debt - and this means stopping spending on your cards. Ideally, you'd cut them up so that you can't use them again, but this might not be realistic as you may need to keep them as a credit option in an emergency. In any case, cutting your spending to an absolute minimum will keeping your repayments as high as possible is the only sure strategy to clearing your debt in the long term.
Both Mike Trudeau & Michael D. Strauss are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Mike Trudeau has sinced written about articles on various topics from Home Security, Finances and Home Buyers Guide. If you're looking for more information on credit repair you can visit the site for more details. For more on how to get out of. Mike Trudeau's top article generates over 18100 views. Bookmark Mike Trudeau to your Favourites.
Michael D. Strauss has sinced written about articles on various topics from Credit Cards, A Secured Loan and Finances. The author has been writing on financial topics for several years and is currently a contributor to Card Sense UK where visitors can compare UK credit cards.. Michael D. Strauss's top article generates over 165000 views. Bookmark Michael D. Strauss to your Favourites.
Car And Homeowners Insurance It is best to contact your insurance agent as early as possible so that the processing of your claims start immediately