Taking on Credit Card Debt

Credit card debt is the kind of thing that can go from a convenience to a cruel
taskmaster in a short time. Very often the reason you may have a credit card
debt problem may not be anything bad about you. It only takes a few bad breaks
to drive your debt level dangerously high. Some unemployment, a few high
medical or home repair bills or other unexpected expenses and before you know
it, you have a big problem.

There are a lot of advertisements for credit card debt consolidation. The first
word of caution we all should have about using these services is be careful. A
good rule of thumb is that if they have money to advertise on television, they
are going to make money off of you in some way shape or form. If you have bad
credit and few resources to tap to get that problem under control, the interest
rate on the debt consolation could be just as much of a prison as the debt
itself. But there are good services out there too so just shop wisely.

So it's a good idea to have a strategy for taking no credit card debt and
starting to turn the corner on dealing with the problem. And part of that
strategy is using the resources you have. The biggest asset you may own is your
home. Now, most of us are hesitant to use our homes as collateral to get our
credit levels down. But if you have a fair amount of equity in your house, it
can be a tool to get a second mortgage that has a favorable interest rate that
is capped so it doesn't float up and down at the whim of the lender.

A good place to start finding a good home equity loan is the lender who is
handling the loan now. If the company that handles your finances now is doing a
good job and doing business with you openly and fairly, you can get to them to
negotiate a loan that both gives them some interest to make the loan worthwhile
to them but gets your debt level under control. So if you can put all of your
debt under a 30 year home equity loan at an interest rate sometimes 5-10% lower
than credit cards, that frees up your budget to handle your expenses and start
to see daylight on getting out of debt.

Another option for getting your credit cards under control is a credit
management service. These agencies will take all of your outstanding credit
card bills and work with the lenders to come up with a payment plan so they
know they will get paid but the amount you have to put out is manageable by
you. Again, these services will have fees but if they can at least put a fence
around your rapidly expanding credit card debt situation, it might be a fee
worth paying.

The important thing about you taking the first step of seeking help with your
credit card debt is that you are taking charge of the situation. Too often, we
feel hopeless and develop a victim mentality when we see those debts just keep
going up knowing full well that at some point the monthly payments will
overwhelm us. Reaching out to skilled and qualified services that can give you
back some feeling of control over your debt can be liberating to you and give
you hope that there may come a time when the trap of credit card debt still
holds you captive. And that will be a wonderful feeling of freedom when you
finally get free and are able to live within your means again.

Credit Card Debt

In the world of credit cards, credit debt is all too common. Debt from credit
cards can be very stressful, and lead to a very crippling situation. No one is
immune to credit card debt, as even students can experience debt with their
credit cards as well. With people using their credit cards more these days,
more and more people continue to take the plunge into debt. Debt is never good,
as it leads to bankruptcy and the destruction of your credit report.

Even though getting in credit card debt is simple to do, getting out of it is
something that takes a lot of work. Even if you go to an agency or company that
specializes in helping people out of debt, it won't happen overnight. To get out
of debt, it will take you quite a bit of time and effort as you get the debt
under control and begin the long process of rebuilding your credit.

To properly defend yourself from credit card debt, you'll need to know quite a
bit about credit, managing your money, and finances in general. Normally, you
can stay out of debt by creating an ideal budget and saving money whenever you
can. If you stick to this plan and avoid steering away from it, you'll normally
have no problems staying out of debt.

If you have other credit cards that you don't use, such as store credit cards
that are known for high interest rates, you should dispose of them. If you have
a lot of open accounts, you should look into debt consolidation, which will
combine all of your debts into one payment so you can get them out of the way
quicker. By using debt consolidation services, you will only have one bill to
pay.

When you receive your credit card bill, you should always strive to pay more
than just the minimum. If you only pay the minimum amount, you could very well
end up being in debt the rest of your life -- as you could be paying nothing
but the interest. Every month, you should strive to pay the minimum amount and
then some. Paying more than the minimum amount will also help to pay offer your
credit card bill faster as well.

No matter how much credit card debt you are in, you can always find debt
management services and agencies that will help you fight back. Credit card
debt is very common these days, something many of us have experienced. Although
there are ways out of credit card debt, the best way to get out of it is to
avoid it all together. If you pay your bills on time and never miss a payment
-- you'll always live a debt free lifestyle.

Credit card debt management

Though a lot of people are comfortable with going forward with credit card debt
management all by themselves, not everyone is. There are people who don't really
want to tread into the territory of financial issues (credit card debt
management included). Such people generally prefer going to debt assistance
companies for advice on credit card debt management or for getting the credit
card debt management done through them. However, even before we talk further on
this topic of credit card debt management, it's imperative to understand that
any external person or agency can only do a proper credit card debt management
for you if you strictly follow the advice/guidelines that they formulate as
part of credit card debt management. These credit card debt management
guidelines are generally related to controlling your spending (which basically
means perseverance and contentment).

Going to a credit card debt management company or a credit card debt management
advisor/professional is not meant only for people who are foreign to financial
topics but is sometimes fruitful for other people too (who are going with
credit card debt management all by themselves). This arises from the fact that
these credit card debt management professionals (as any professional) would
have more knowledge in that field than anyone else that is not from that
field/profession. So, firstly, you wouldn't know all the tips and tricks that
the credit card debt management professional would know (and in fact this is
something that you cannot read and learn overnight). And secondly, it will save
you a lot of time; because the person who practices credit card debt management
as a profession would know about all the latest offers etc that are available
in the market e.g. balance transfer offers etc (and hence you don't need to go
looking for all this stuff all by yourself). All in all, a credit card debt
management professional can help get you a better deal that might more than
compensate for the fee charged by that professional. If you look around you
will find that there are hordes of companies and professionals offering credit
card debt management services. However, the key here is that you choose someone
whose credentials are already established (or who can prove his credentials to
you). One good way of selecting a credit card debt management company/
professional is to check with a friend or someone from your family, if they
have used any such service in recent times. After all, references are the best
way of building trust.

College student credit card debt

Credit card debt doesn't shy away from anyone who doesn't want to shy away from
it. It treats everyone equally irrespective of whether the person is a seasoned
professional or just a college student. So college student credit card debt
isn't uncommon either. Since the credit limit on college student credit cards
is much lower, the college student credit card debt cannot rise to the levels
it does for other credit cards. However, college student credit card debt is an
even bigger menace because a lot of students are already in debt due to the loan
they have taken for their education. If they pass out of college with college
student credit card debt, they will have to payback not just the loan they
taken for studies but also their college student credit card debt.

Since most of the college students are inexperienced in the usage of credit
cards, they can easily fall prey to what we call as 'college student credit
card debt'. In fact, college student credit card debt is one reason why the
credit card suppliers keep a lower credit limit on college student credit
cards. The solution for avoiding college student credit card debt is similar to
what it is for avoidance of any type of credit card debt. So, the first thing
for avoiding college student credit card debt is to understand the concept that
credit card is not free money and that whatever you pay-for using your credit
card has to be paid back to the credit card supplier when your credit card bill
arrives. So don't treat credit card separate from hard cash. Avoid overspending
e.g. do not buy things just because they are on sale, sales keep coming and
going and there are always better offers each time; buy only those things that
you really need. A good thing to do is to prepare your monthly budget and
follow it religiously. Never budge from your budget. Another very important
preventive measure for avoiding college student credit card debt is to avoid
going for a second credit card. Some students have a tendency to go for
multiple credit cards just because the credit limit on college student credit
cards is very low. However, this is a perfect recipe for getting into a college
student credit card debt. This is how college student credit card debt builds
up. One credit card is more than enough for any student.

College student credit card is really meant to be treated like a training
ground for learning more about credit cards. It should not be make an
instrument of debt (college student credit card debt).

So tired that I typed 'card com credit debt en language site'

Credit card debt can really disturb the peace of your mind. You keep hearing
stories about people who run a debt on their credit card debt. Some of these
stories are serious and some others are amusing. Here's an amusing one:

The other day I heard a guy tell his story about how he went on his mission to
eliminate his credit card debt. He started with reading the advice on various
websites and trying various search engines and he was astonished at the number
of results he got. One night he was so tired that he typed in 'card com credit
debt en language site'. After he typed 'card com credit debt en language site',
he realized that he had made a slight typing mistake in typing 'card com credit
debt en language site'. His actual intention behind typing 'card com credit
debt en language site' was to search for only English sites (.com sites only)
that offered credit card debt related advice. His search amused him even more
when he found that 'card com credit debt en language site' did actually get him
some results. Though the search engine did recommend changing the 'en' to 'in',
there were still some results for 'card com credit debt en language site'. He
just went on to search for 'card com credit debt en language site' as just one
term. For 'card com credit debt en language site' as a single term, he got
lesser results than he had got for 'card com credit debt en language site'
typed in without quotes. He wondered, if a lot of people were making similar
searches as he was doing on 'card com credit debt en language site' i.e. using
random terms with a bit of mistyping. He went on to typing 'card com credit
debt en language site' on some other search engines, just to check that. Soon,
it kind of became a research (and fun) of different kind i.e. searching for
'card com credit debt en language site' and checking if 'card com credit debt
en language site' actually meant something. He thought that it was a bit
unusual to have some other people too that were searching for or using the same
term 'card com credit debt en language site' (especially such a long term as
'card com credit debt en language site'). When 'card com credit debt en
language site' was used without quotes, the search for 'card com credit debt en
language site' did yield some useful yields. So he went on to examine these
results that were returned for 'card com credit debt en language site'.
However, that was just the fun part of it and he soon went off to sleep.

Yes, he did have a laugh with his friends the next day.

Stupid Credit Card Tricks

There has been an ongoing skit on the David Letterman Show called "Stupid Pet
Tricks". It was an aptly named bit because the things people teach their pets
to do are truly silly. Letterman did so well with that skit, he followed it up
with another series called "Stupid People Tricks." Well, when it comes to the
dozens of credit card offers that you get in your mailbox every week, you might
think that some of these credit card companies would like to be on the next
series called "Stupid Credit Card Tricks".

These promotions that you get for credit cards seem to be playing on just about
every tactic they can find to get you to take out yet one more credit card. You
would think that the fact that credit card debt is a virtual epidemic in this
country would let the credit card companies know that its time to get on the
side of the consumer to learn responsible use of credit. Instead they do all
they can to get you to have more, not less, credit cards and use them as much
as you can.

We need to be smart consumers because as much as credit card companies try to
make credit cards seem fun and happy and like big toys in your wallet, they are
not toys. We should never forget that a credit card is nothing more than a way
for the credit company to extend to you dozens of small unsecured loans that
they will create credit payments on the fly to enforce through your credit card
bill that will include high interest rates and additional fees as they see fit.

This is not to say that having a credit card is not a good thing. Good credit
is one of the real assets any responsible adult will use to help make life
easier and to make the necessary purchases in life. And more and more credit is
becoming the currency of choice replacing cash and checks as the preferred
method for paying for gas, at restaurants and any more even at retail outlets
and grocery stores.

While the spread of credit as actual currency is a fact of life for us, it is
also a major move by the credit card companies to take over the economy and to
make you even more dependent on them. So the best defense is to take charge of
your credit card life and make sure that you are the boss of your credit cards,
not the other way around.

The stupid credit card tricks can be really fun to look at and sometimes
enticing. They will appeal to your sense of school pride by giving you a credit
card in your college school colors. You can get credit cards that give donations
to save the environment, help the poor or create a college fund for your kids.
There are all kinds of premiums, cash back concepts, frequent flier miles and
gifts and toys that credit card companies will fork over just to lure you into
getting more credit cards and using them a lot.

To put it bluntly, you and I need to learn not to be suckers for these deals.
We can laugh at the stupid tricks they try to use. But if a credit card company
is going to try to trick you into getting a card or using one, they are not
doing business honestly with you. You want a credit card company that deals
straight with you. They should offer fair rates that don't change at the drop
of a hat. They should sustain a reasonable credit limit and not always be
jacking it up to try to get you to buy more stuff on the card. And they should
have good customer service and be ready to renegotiate your relationship with
them so you are getting good value from their service, not just paying for a
bunch of toys and frills that do you no good whatsoever.

By keeping in mind what a credit card company actually does and that credit
cards are mature adult tools, not games or toys, we can keep in perspective how
to use our credit cards and how to keep from abusing credit which will lead to
the nightmare of credit card debt.

Stop Spending It Like You Have It To Spend

"Reduce credit card debt and eliminate it before it assumes a horrifying shape"
-- This is really the gist of the story. So, how do you reduce credit card debt?
Well, you reduce credit card debt by preventing it from increasing and by paying
off what it is currently. Simple, isn't it?

Not really. If it was that simple to reduce credit card debt, then we wouldn't
have had so many people with credit card debt related problems. We would have
been able to reduce credit card debt problems and finally eliminate them (or
reduce them significantly). There are all kinds of advice available on how to
reduce credit card debt, but still nothing much seems to change. The problem
still seems to persist and in fact, worsen.

However, it's not that difficult to reduce credit card debt. As we just said,
there is a lot of advice available on how to reduce credit card debt and the
only thing you need to do is put that advice, on how to reduce credit card
debt, to practice in real life. Well, no one but you will benefit if you reduce
credit card debt.

So the first step to reduce credit card debt is to prevent it from taking
dangerous proportions. The 2 most important ways of implementing this step are
-- balance transfers and use of cash.

Balance transfer is often treated as the number one measure to reduce credit
card debt. This is really something that can help reduce credit card debt by
slowing down the pace at which your credit card debt is getting built. It also
provides you relief in terms of the APR being 0% for initial 6-9 months (and
hence helps reduce credit card debt faster). To reduce credit card debt using
this mechanism, you need to transfer your balance from your current credit
card(s) onto another credit card that has a lower APR than your current card.
Thus you reduce credit card debt by preventing it from increasing so rapidly.

The other preventive measure to reduce credit card debt is to use cash instead
of card (as such, hard earned cash is difficult to get out of pocket as
compared to just a credit card). So you reduce credit card debt by not adding
more to it. That is the simplest way to reduce credit card debt.

However, you can reduce credit card debt only if you stick to your resolution
to reduce credit card debt; otherwise it will fail miserably.

Plastic Money Problems Create Pressures

Credit card debt relief is what every debt-struck credit card holder is looking
for. Credit card debt relief is not just about reducing or eliminating credit
card debt; credit card debt relief is also about getting de-stressed.

Credit card debt relief is about working for oneself and not just for the
credit card debt that you have on you. Yes, it's unfortunate but true. In fact,
you can hear statements like "I have got a better job, now I can pack up my
credit card debt even faster". So, in that sense, credit card debt relief is
really about getting your life back on the normal track.

The most important credit card debt relief comes in the form of de-stressing
you. Everyone knows about the harmful effects of stress; so, if credit card
debt relief means postponing your purchases for later, you should do so.

There are no goods out there that can give you as much joy as credit card debt
relief can. Besides postponing the purchase of your favourite goods, there are
few more things that you need to bring into practice in order to get credit
card debt relief. Most of these credit card debt relief mechanisms advocate
restraint spending e.g. preparing a (tight) monthly budget and sticking to it.

Using cash instead of card for making the payments for your purchases is
another advice. Debt consolidation is another popular way of getting credit
card debt relief. You will find a lot of advice (and you can even hire a
consultant) for ways to achieving credit card debt relief. So, there is no
dearth of advice on credit card debt relief or credit card debt consolidation
or credit card debt elimination.

However, what is not so common is the advice on how to act in the post 'credit
card debt relief' period i.e. after credit card debt elimination. It goes
without saying that if you don't exercise care in the post 'credit card debt
relief' period, you might again fall a prey to credit card debt.

So, if you have been refraining from making purchases, you should not, all of a
sudden, start purchasing all those favourite goods that you had been avoiding.
The recommended guidelines for post 'credit card debt relief' period are not
much different from the ones for achieving credit card debt relief. Here are
the top 5:

1.  Plan your expenses using a monthly budget 
2.  Do not buy anything that you don't need 
3.  Do not go for too many credit cards (just one or two should be sufficient) 
4.  Always make full payments of your credit card bill and do it before the 
    due date 
5.  Never use more than 60-70% of the credit limit available to you

No Having A Card Does Not Mean You Have Money

Most people advocate the case of credit cards, quoting the benefits and
convenience that arises from them. However, there is another
group/line-of-thought that strongly opposes credit cards. The reason being
'Excessive Credit Card Debt', which is one of the most serious problems faced
by the credit card holders and credit card industry.

However, you can't pull the shutters on the credit card industry just because
of a few irresponsible people (or even if it's more than few). That is not a
solution for beating excessive credit card debt. Moreover, you can't overlook
the benefits associated with the credit cards.

The issue of excessive credit card debt can be looked at from 2 angles. First
is addressing of the excessive credit card debt problem at the industry level
and second is the addressing of the excessive credit card debt problem at the
individual's level i.e. at the credit card holder level. The first method
involves increasing awareness of the excessive credit card debt problem to the
masses. This is more or less being done currently too.

However, there should also be an effort to tackle this problem of excessive
credit card debt at an even deeper level. This means trying to devise a
mechanism to nip the problem (of excessive credit card debt) in the bud. This
mechanism should actually be a part of the overall system. A lot of thought
needs to go into devising such a mechanism. Case studies should be taken up,
statistics gathered and a proper forum formed (with representatives from the
credit card holders and from the credit card suppliers).

As of now, the credit card suppliers just seem to be engaged in coming out with
new products and getting customers enrolled to those products. There is little
attention paid towards addressing the problem of excessive credit card debt in
the real sense. Something like attending mandatory seminars on the root causes
of excessive credit card debt could be made part of the credit card application
process.

Another way of dealing with the problem of excessive credit card debt could be:
developing a system for calculation of applicable credit card limit at the
individual level i.e. no standard/product-based credit limits.

Then there could be mechanisms for proactively warning the users about
excessive credit card debt (based on their credit card usage) or even
imposition of early restrictions on noticing the first signs that lead to
excessive credit card debt at the individual's level, the treatment of the
problem of excessive credit card debt would include following of best practices
(on credit card usage and avoidance of excessive credit card debt) by the
individuals themselves. A checklist or a set of questions could be provided to
individuals for recognising the first signs of excessive credit card debt.

So, the problem of excessive credit card debt can surely be dealt with by
putting together some serious thinking at a broader level together with
discipline at the individual's level.

Moving that Debt to a Better Place

Balance transfers are one of the big methods that are common used to try to get
some control over an out of control credit card debt. While many balance
transfer offers you get from credit card companies in the mail are not a great
deal, some of them can really help if you are just trying to get the debt you
are trying to keep up with under control. And getting that debt to a credit
home where the interest rate is not only reasonable but not constantly changing
is a big goal of making balance transfers.

There are some general guidelines you can use to pick which balance transfers
to even consider in the first lace for moving your debt. It is worth your while
to be a wise consumer and chose a credit agency carefully because it is a
competitive market and, as with anything else, there are good guys and bad guys
out there. Some guidelines to take into consideration are:

* If you can do business with a company that you already have accounts with,
that's better. Not only do you have a history of how they treat their
customers, it will not affect your credit score to just use an account you
already have established. 

* When moving your debt to an offer for a lower interest rate, make it is not an 
offer with an expiration date. Some very low interest rate offers are only for a 
few months which really don't do you that much good. Better take 3-4% for the 
life of the loan than zero percent for three months. 

* Keep your eyes open for transfer fees. These hidden charges can take all of the 
value out of a seemingly good offer. If they say there are no transfer charges, 
make sure that's the truth. Read all of the fine print of any offer whether it's 
from a new credit source or someone you have worked with for a while. 

* Only respond to offers you get in writing. Stay away from phone solicitors or 
email offers. There are more scams than respectable offers done this way.

Also keep an eye on the credit ceilings of the offers you are getting. If the
offer is to use an existing credit account, you should know how much credit
they can offer you and how close you are to using that credit up. But it is of
no value to you to go through the trouble of arranging a balance transfer to
try to capture a lower interest rate only to find that they could only
accommodate a small amount of the needed funds.

The other kind of balance transfer other than just moving debt from one credit
card company to another is to move funds to a secured loan. A second mortgage
is a secured loan because you are putting up your home equity as collateral.
These types of loans are easier to get because you have something to put
forward for it but you are taking a risk because of the security you are
putting up.

Use the same sense of good common sense and examining the creditors when you
choose a company to take out a secured loan. Two things you can over look that
can come back to haunt you are early cancellation fees and variable interest
rates. If you are putting up your home, you deserve to lock in the interest
rate. And when you look at the final paperwork, look for those early pay off
fees. If everything doesn't look just right, don't be afraid to get up and walk
out. There are plenty of credit companies out there to deal with and you can
find one who will do business fairly and honestly with you. You just have to
have the patience to keep looking.

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.

Deciding On A Credit counselor

Generally you will find that there is more credit card debt help available than
is actually needed. Just flip through the newspaper and you would be surprised
by the number of advertisements related to credit card debt help. Every now and
then, there are articles on credit card debt and credit card debt help.

Television channels are full of ads related to credit card debt help. There are
websites and magazines that are dedicate to credit card debt help. You also hear
about the topic of 'credit card debt help' being discussed in parliament.

There seem to be policies/laws being formed for credit card debt help. All
kinds of suggestions seem to be floating for credit card debt help. Everyone,
even some of your friends, have a piece of advice related to credit card debt
help. All banks seem to offer credit card debt help in term of various loan
types (generally short term loans) at low rates.

So, credit card debt help is readily available and in fact even unwanted credit
card debt help or advice will flow into your ears. However, not every one
offering credit card debt help is proficient enough to be able to provide
proper credit card debt help that will suit you.

So you do need to understand some basics about credit cards and credit card
debt, before you actually go looking for credit card debt help or before you
start helping yourself out with your credit card debt. So you should try and
understand how the credit card suppliers bill you, how the interest is
calculated on your credit card balance and how your credit card debt grows.
Understanding all about APR, goes without saying.

Even if you think that you had gone through all this stuff at the time of
choosing your credit card, you should revisit these concepts to make sure that
you still know them. If you decide against going for professional credit card
debt help, you will need to understand these concepts in even more detail.

All these concepts will become handy when you are comparing various balance
transfer offers (for example). Moreover, the knowledge of these concepts will
also be helpful in making the discussions with credit counsellor more fruitful.

So credit card debt help really starts with developing a better understanding
of credit cards and other concepts related to credit cards (irrespective of
whether you go for external credit card debt help or not).

Credit Card Debt as a silent financial killer

Technology spoils people's whims. It tends to cater to every human's caprices.
It feeds on the people's undying thirst for easy, instant, and convenient. More
often than not, it also causes them a lot of trouble -- financial trouble
through credit card debt -- that is.

Credit Card convenience vs. Credit Card debt

We often see people pull out "plastic" to pay for everything they need. Why
not? When all it takes is a quick swipe of the card through a little electronic
box and a signature then, everything's okay. You go home happy, content, and
almost worry-free. On the other hand, not every one of these people realize
that the convenience of using credit cards can lead to a false feeling of
financial security. And this realization will strike them as soon as the bills
arrive.

In fact, studies show that credit card debt and personal bankruptcies have
increases bank profits to the highest level in the last five years. It only
shows that more and more credit card holders were unable to manage their
finances that lead to credit card debt. If you are a cardholder and having some
credit card debt troubles at this early stage, it' now time to think over the
possible outcomes of this minor glitch so that a more serious problem with
credit card debt would cease to arise. Credit card gives people the feeling of
invincibility. And it also gives them tons of uncertainty about their financial
management capability when they encounter problems with their credit card debt.
Although it is true that that credit cards solve financial matters especially
when it comes to safety and convenience, credit cards also creates hassle
especially when the person using it doesn't know what you he or she's getting
into.

Indeed, paying off credit card debt may take a long time especially if the
person has high interest rates. But, it doesn't mean that you can do nothing
about efficient management of credit card debt. When you find yourself
overwhelmed with credit card debt, don't fall into a pit of depression. You can
get through it with discipline and a change in spending patterns. Start
eliminating problems with credit card debt by getting tips and techniques on
how to pay off your balances easier, how to consolidate of frequently
encountered problems, look for free debt consultation agencies that can help
you, and try -- inch by inch -- to rediscover ways on how you can regain your
financial freedom by reducing you credit card debt.

The power to eliminate credit card debt

People who are having problems managing their credit card debt or those who are
near in bankruptcy often don't realize that the power to eliminate their credit
card debt troubles totally is in their hands. Today, more and more Americans
need credit card debt help badly. The main problem is that these families are
having difficult times paying high interest for credit card debt. And instead of 
lifting the burden of credit card debt, more people are paying much in interest 
every month than that of the actual expenditure.

There are actually more lawful and moral ways to zero-out thousands of dollars
in credit card debts. And if you only take the time to research and know your
rights and how bankruptcy laws have changed, you will discover that there are
valuable facts to eliminate credit card debt. Actually, the possibility of
reducing or eliminating the high interest credit card debt is now more possible
when a person takes action to get his or her finances back on track.

Apart from knowing your weapon in terminating credit card debt, it is very
important that you develop a sense of control and perseverance first. Since
credit card debt elimination process requires organization, clarity, and
commitment to your own growth, it is a must that you are ready for the
responsibility and to stand free and independent.

For those people who consider having a credit card indispensable but afraid of
getting one because of the possibility of credit card debt nightmare, you must
remember that credit card can be a powerful tool in managing your finances but
there will always be glitches when not used properly. Of course, there are
countless reasons why you should and shouldn't get one depending on your needs.
Whether you decide to get one or not, managing finances it still takes a sense
of good budgeting, willingness to change spending habits, and the humility to
avail low interest consolidation loans when you are already burdened by too
much credit card debt.

Teaching the Kids About Credit

One of the ways some of us get into credit card debt trouble comes out of
nothing more than lack of awareness of how credit cards can sneak up on us. The
first time you maxed out a card and faced the overwhelming task of paying down a
credit card and getting yourself back on firm financial footing, it can be a
sobering experience. And if you have gone through this experience, the school
of hard knocks taught you well that it's easier to prevent credit card debt
than to recover from it.

Maybe the best thing about getting hard won knowledge is that you can pass it
along to your kids. So how can you go about helping your children establish a
good relationship with credit and learn how to use it responsibly so they don't
have to learn about credit card debt and credit card abuse the hard way? Just
like everything else in life, they depend on you to teach them how to function
as adults. So we should take this responsibility seriously.

First of all, teaching kids to use credit effectively is not about keeping them
from having credit. If anything, the opposite is true. A credit card is as
essential a tool for modern living as a car and a cell phone. We would even
make the bold statement that to send a child out to fend for himself or for
herself without a working credit card in her pocket, a respectable credit
rating already building up and the training in how to use credit is nothing
less than irresponsible parenting by adults. It is equivalent of sending your
child into a battle with no weapons. Credit is essential and smart use of
credit is even more essential.

You can help your kids begin to understand the basics of getting good credit by
getting them a credit card in high school or college. You can pay the bills but
this is a good way for them to pay for what they need and you can keep track of
their spending from that monthly bill you get. But make sure that credit card is
in your child's name so as you pay it off each month, they build up the good
credit rating from what you are doing. Consider it another one of the many
legacies you are passing along to your kids.

But don't just let your kids go hog wild with their credit card. In fact, you
can work with a credit card company to establish a credit limit and not allow
it to go up. In that way, you can set a limit on the amount of credit they have
each month. And if they go over it and suddenly cannot buy lunch because they
abused their credit, that afternoon of going hungry will teach them more than
two days of lecture about fiscal responsibility can do.

Make sure your kids are aware that you paying their bills is a privilege and
that they are very lucky to be able to start their adult lives with a sponsor
like this. Then give them three jobs they must complete to show they are worthy
of this privilege. (!) They must save all receipts of every purchase they make.
If they buy something and don't get a receipt, they must make one. (2) They
must maintain a ledger of spending. This is similar to a check book ledger but
it must be complete with every purchase they made and a running total and it
must be maintained daily. If an expenditure shows up that is not on that
ledger, they will be required to pay that back to you or risk losing their
credit card. (3) They must sit you once a week to review the credit card bill
and explain item by item what each entry on there is. This will do a lot to
keep them from using the credit card frivolously.

These simple habits if done over a period of months will teach your children
how to track, monitor and be aware of their spending and their use of credit.
In that way, when you cut the apron strings entirely, they will not only have
the credit they need to have a good adult life, they will be wise in how they
use it. And there is no better gift you can give to a child than that.

Credit card debt settlement

'Credit card debt' is the worst of all nightmares. A successful credit card
debt settlement is like getting a new lease of life. Credit card debt
settlement is a wonderful stress relieving mechanisms. Once you are done with
your credit card debt settlement, you are assured of a much better life. All
those nagging phone calls and mails will become history and all that
surmounting tension would be gone. That's why credit card debt settlement is so
essential.

You can approach credit card debt settlement in 2 ways. You can either go for
credit card debt settlement all by yourself or you can take advice from a
credit counselling company or a professional. Any of these credit card debt
settlement methods are fine, as long as they work for you and help you get
debt-free quickly. If you go for credit card debt settlement all by yourself,
you will need to analyse the various options available to you e.g. checking on
various balance transfer offers available in the market, checking the short
term loan options with the banks etc etc. However, if you want to take credit
card debt settlement advice from a professional, you should be able to trust
the advisor fully. So you need to check the credentials of the credit card debt
settlement advisor/company. There are hordes of people and companies that
advertise "credit card debt settlement in one day" or something of that kind
which will look just fantastic. Such credit card debt settlement offers/advice
are generally not genuine. Moreover, you need to understand that credit card
debt settlement cannot happen overnight (unless you win a lottery or something
like that). So, beware of such agencies. That said it's important to mention
that there are a lot of good credit card debt settlement advisors/companies
available too who will not only give you genuine credit card debt settlement
advice but will help you throughout until you are finally out of debt. Their
advice may, in fact, more than compensate for the fee that they charge you for
credit card debt settlement. These credit card debt settlement
companies/advisors will be able to help you in the best way if you tell them
your current financial situation correctly. Your future plans are important
too, as they might influence the decision on 'What route for credit card debt
settlement would work the best for you'.

Moreover, once you are done with your credit card debt settlement, you should
also take measures to avoid falling into that pit again.

Credit card debt relief

Credit card debt relief is what every debt-struck credit card holder is looking
for. Credit card debt relief is not just about reducing or eliminating credit
card debt; credit card debt relief is also about getting de-stressed. Credit
card debt relief is about working for oneself and not just for the credit card
debt that you have on you. Yes, it's unfortunate but true. In fact, you can
hear statements like "I have got a better job, now I can pack up my credit card
debt even faster". So, in that sense, credit card debt relief is really about
getting your life back on the normal track.

The most important credit card debt relief comes in the form of de-stressing
you. Everyone knows about the harmful effects of stress; so, if credit card
debt relief means postponing your purchases for later, you should do so. There
are no goods out there that can give you as much joy as credit card debt relief
can. Besides postponing the purchase of your favourite goods, there are few more
things that you need to bring into practice in order to get credit card debt
relief. Most of these credit card debt relief mechanisms advocate restraint
spending e.g. preparing a (tight) monthly budget and sticking to it. Using cash
instead of card for making the payments for your purchases is another advice.
Debt consolidation is another popular way of getting credit card debt relief.
You will find a lot of advice (and you can even hire a consultant) for ways to
achieving credit card debt relief. So, there is no dearth of advice on credit
card debt relief or credit card debt consolidation or credit card debt
elimination. However, what is not so common is the advice on how to act in the
post 'credit card debt relief' period i.e. after credit card debt elimination.
It goes without saying that if you don't exercise care in the post 'credit card
debt relief' period, you might again fall a prey to credit card debt. So, if you
have been refraining from making purchases, you should not, all of a sudden,
start purchasing all those favourite goods that you had been avoiding. The
recommended guidelines for post 'credit card debt relief' period are not much
different from the ones for achieving credit card debt relief.

Here are the top 5: 

1.  Plan your expenses using a monthly budget 
2.  Do not buy anything that you don't need 
3.  Do not go for too many credit cards (just one or two should be sufficient) 
4.  Always make full payments of your credit card bill and do it before the due 
    date 
5.  Never use more than 60-70% of the credit limit available to you.

Credit card debt reduction

Getting into debt is easy but getting out of it really a difficult task. This
holds good for any kind of debt and includes credit card debt too. Credit card
debt reduction needs planning and discipline in the way you spend money.

Credit card debt reduction starts with reduction in the expenditures you make
using your credit card. So, the first trick for credit card reduction is to go
for shopping without your credit card (carry some small amount of cash). This
credit card reduction technique isn't asking you to stop shopping, instead it's
just asking you to seriously evaluate the need of anything you want to purchase
and not just purchase it on the spur of the moment. So, if you really-really
need to buy it, you will go back to your home to fetch your credit card thus
introducing a delay that is instrumental in killing spur-of-the-moment purchase
(and hence helping in credit card debt reduction). It gives you time to evaluate
if it's really worth going back home and getting the credit card for purchasing
that item. So, in this case, credit card debt reduction is achieved by
preventing the debt from building up further. It's a very effective credit card
debt reduction measure.

The other effective way of credit card debt reduction is debt consolidation
i.e. consolidating debt from high APR credit cards to a low APR one. So this
credit card debt reduction measure works by reducing the rate at which your
credit card debt grows. Moreover, this way of credit card debt reduction also
gives you a breather in the form of a short initial period when the APR is 0%.
Besides credit card debt reduction, debt consolidation also brings some
additional benefits which are basically in terms of rewards etc offered by the
new credit card supplier. Thus this method of credit card debt reduction is
really more than just a credit card debt reduction method -- it's a benefit
provider too. If you are not comfortable in taking forward this method of
credit card debt reduction, you can seek the help of a credit card debt
assistance company.

Besides these two credit card debt reduction measures, which are really the
most important credit card debt reduction measures, there are other methods too
for credit card debt reduction. Another one is to ask your current credit card
supplier for help in credit card debt reduction i.e. by lowering the APR. It
might work out for you (as it does for some people).

Also remember, that there are people (professionals) out there who provide
advice on credit card debt reduction (just in case you need them).

Credit card debt negotiation

Credit card debt is really a menace and a lot of people are facing it around
the globe. Credit card debt consolidation and bank loans are well known as ways
of reducing and eliminating credit card debt. In all this confusion, credit card
debt negotiation almost gets forgotten.

Well, credit card debt negotiation starts right from your credit accounts where
you have the most hard-hitting credit card debt. This means credit card debt
negotiation has to be taken up with your current credit providers. Before you
misinterpret it, let me clarify that we are not talking about chucking off a
portion of your debt through credit card debt negotiation. We are talking
primarily about using credit card debt negotiations for getting the APR on your
current credit cards reduced to some lower figure. So, credit card debt
negotiation is about talking to your current credit card suppliers for
informing them about your intention to clear off your credit card debt and
using your skills (credit card debt negotiation skills) to agree a lower APR
rate with them. Basically, credit card debt negotiation is about asking your
current credit card suppliers for help/assistance in clearing off your credit
card debt. If credit card debt negotiation is successful, it will save you not
only money (due to reduction in APR) but also the hassle that is associated
with looking for a new credit card (to transfer balance).

However, if the credit card debt negotiation, with your current credit card
supplier, doesn't yield the desired results, you will have to look for other
credit suppliers who can help you in consolidating your debt. Again, you will
need your negotiation skills (rather credit card debt negotiation skills) to
get a good deal from them. If your credit card debt negotiations work out well,
you might be able to get a really low standard APR or you might get a longer
term on 0% APR (or you might get both). These are really the most important
things and your credit card debt negotiations should concentrate more on these
than anything else. The other thing to include on your credit card debt
negotiation would be the credit limit and other benefits. Here, you are
basically trying out the possibility of getting a better credit card as part of
your credit card debt negotiation. For people with really bad credit rating,
getting an unsecured bank loan or getting another credit card (for balance
transfer) is really difficult. For them, getting an unsecured bank loan or
credit card is what you would term as credit card debt negotiation.

So, don't hesitate in going for credit card debt negotiation. It is surely an
option available for all.

Being Straight With Debt Counselors

'Credit card debt' is the worst of all nightmares. A successful credit card
debt settlement is like getting a new lease of life. Credit card debt
settlement is a wonderful stress relieving mechanisms. Once you are done with
your credit card debt settlement, you are assured of a much better life. All
those nagging phone calls and mails will become history and all that
surmounting tension would be gone. That's why credit card debt settlement is so
essential.

You can approach credit card debt settlement in 2 ways. You can either go for
credit card debt settlement all by yourself or you can take advice from a
credit counselling company or a professional. Any of these credit card debt
settlement methods are fine, as long as they work for you and help you get
debt-free quickly.

If you go for credit card debt settlement all by yourself, you will need to
analyse the various options available to you e.g. checking on various balance
transfer offers available in the market, checking the short term loan options
with the banks etc etc. However, if you want to take credit card debt
settlement advice from a professional, you should be able to trust the advisor
fully. So you need to check the credentials of the credit card debt settlement
advisor/company.

There are hordes of people and companies that advertise "credit card debt
settlement in one day" or something of that kind which will look just
fantastic. Such credit card debt settlement offers/advice are generally not
genuine. Moreover, you need to understand that credit card debt settlement
cannot happen overnight (unless you win a lottery or something like that). So,
beware of such agencies.

That said it's important to mention that there are a lot of good credit card
debt settlement advisors/companies available too who will not only give you
genuine credit card debt settlement advice but will help you throughout until
you are finally out of debt. Their advice may, in fact, more than compensate
for the fee that they charge you for credit card debt settlement.

These credit card debt settlement companies/advisors will be able to help you
in the best way if you tell them your current financial situation correctly.
Your future plans are important too, as they might influence the decision on
'What route for credit card debt settlement would work the best for you'.

Moreover, once you are done with your credit card debt settlement, you should
also take measures to avoid falling into that pit again.

Getting A Loan For Your Loan

Credit card debt consolidation is regarded as the first step towards getting
rid of credit card debt. Credit card debt consolidation loan is one of the ways
of consolidating credit card debt. Besides, credit card debt consolidation loan,
you can also go for balance transfer to another credit card.

In fact, due to the publicity by credit card suppliers, balance transfers seem
to be more talked about than credit card debt consolidation loan. Some people
kind of forget about credit card debt consolidation loan being available as a
method of credit card debt consolidation. However, credit card debt
consolidation loan too is important to consider when going for credit card debt
consolidation.

So what do we mean by credit card debt consolidation loan?

Put simply, credit card debt consolidation loan is a low interest loan that you
apply for with a bank or financial institution in order to clear off your high
interest credit card debt. So credit card debt consolidation loan too is based
on same principle as balance transfers i.e. moving from one or more high
interest debts to a low interest one.

The credit card debt consolidation loan has to be paid back in monthly
instalments and as per the terms and conditions agreed between you and the
dispenser of credit card debt consolidation loan.

Credit card debt consolidation loan, in general terms, is an unsecured loan
i.e. doesn't require you to pledge any security.

However, if you have a really bad credit history and you want go for credit
card debt settlement using credit card debt consolidation loan, the credit card
debt consolidation loan will take the form of a secured credit card debt
consolidation loan.

This type of credit card debt consolidation loan requires you to pledge a
security e.g. the home owned by you or something else that has a value which is
comparable to your credit card debt consolidation loan amount. So, worse the
credit rating, the more difficult it is to get a credit card debt consolidation
loan.

Though balance transfers and credit card debt consolidation loans have the same
objective behind them, the credit card debt consolidation loans are sometimes
considered better because you end up closing most of your credit card accounts
which have been the main culprit in landing you in this difficult situation.

However, balance transfers have their own advantages which are not available
with credit card debt consolidation loans. Choosing between credit card debt
consolidation loan and balance transfer is really a matter of personal choice.

Get out of credit card debt Can I get out of credit card debt?

Yes, you can get out of credit card debt. If you are determined to get out of
credit card debt you surely can get out of credit card debt. Though it's a bit
difficult to get out of credit card debt, it isn't impossible. All you need to
get out of credit card debt is determination and planning. Both are equally
important (or maybe determination is even more important). Determination
doesn't come without proper reason. So, you need to first ask this question to
yourself -- "What will I get if I am able to get out of credit card debt?",
"What difference will it make", "What's in it for me" or "Is it really
beneficial to get out of credit card debt". Use the answers to build your
determination. The fact that all the nagging via mails/phone (by the credit
card supplier and/or their collection agent), will be gone, should do good to
strengthening your determination and should provide you with a reason on why
you should endeavour to get out of credit card debt. Think about the
stress-free life after you get out of credit card debt. Try to link various
reasons together and try to see the benefits through them. All these
collectively will help in bolstering your determination and prevent it from
getting weak at any point in time.

The second thing that you need to get out of credit card debt is planning. The
planning to get out of credit card debt will start with making a list of the
credit cards that you currently posses and noting the debt and the APR for each
of them. The sum total of all these various credit card debts, will give you the
total credit card debt. You also need to check if you have been defaulting on
payments on some of these credit cards (and hence incurring a late fee). You
will need to avoid that and put it on the plan you have prepared to get out of
credit card debt. The next step in getting out of credit card debt is to check
your current financial position and make an assessment of what you expect your
future financial position to be. Next comes the research to check the various
balance transfer offers available in the market; to see if one of these can
prove beneficial to you. Use all this information to calculate how much time
you will require to get out of credit card debt and how you will distribute the
debt payment across your various credit cards (ensuring that you payoff the debt
that is hitting you the most and also ensuring that you don't incur late fee on
any credit card payments)

Excessive credit card debt Excessive credit card debt

Most people advocate the case of credit cards, quoting the benefits and
convenience that arises from them. However, there is another
group/line-of-thought that strongly opposes credit cards. The reason being
'Excessive Credit Card Debt', which is one of the most serious problems faced
by the credit card holders and credit card industry. However, you can't pull
the shutters on the credit card industry just because of a few irresponsible
people (or even if it's more than few). That is not a solution for beating
excessive credit card debt. Moreover, you can't overlook the benefits
associated with the credit cards.

The issue of excessive credit card debt can be looked at from 2 angles. First
is addressing of the excessive credit card debt problem at the industry level
and second is the addressing of the excessive credit card debt problem at the
individual's level i.e. at the credit card holder level. The first method
involves increasing awareness of the excessive credit card debt problem to the
masses. This is more or less being done currently too. However, there should
also be an effort to tackle this problem of excessive credit card debt at an
even deeper level. This means trying to devise a mechanism to nip the problem
(of excessive credit card debt) in the bud. This mechanism should actually be a
part of the overall system. A lot of thought needs to go into devising such a
mechanism. Case studies should be taken up, statistics gathered and a proper
forum formed (with representatives from the credit card holders and from the
credit card suppliers). As of now, the credit card suppliers just seem to be
engaged in coming out with new products and getting customers enrolled to those
products. There is little attention paid towards addressing the problem of
excessive credit card debt in the real sense. Something like attending
mandatory seminars on the root causes of excessive credit card debt could be
made part of the credit card application process. Another way of dealing with
the problem of excessive credit card debt could be: developing a system for
calculation of applicable credit card limit at the individual level i.e. no
standard/product-based credit limits. Then there could be mechanisms for
proactively warning the users about excessive credit card debt (based on their
credit card usage) or even imposition of early restrictions on noticing the
first signs that lead to excessive credit card debt At the individual's level,
the treatment of the problem of excessive credit card debt would include
following of best practices (on credit card usage and avoidance of excessive
credit card debt) by the individuals themselves. A checklist or a set of
questions could be provided to individuals for recognising the first signs of
excessive credit card debt.

So, the problem of excessive credit card debt can surely be dealt with by
putting together some serious thinking at a broader level together with
discipline at the individual's level.

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.

Getting a Premium Interest Rate

The challenge of tackling a massive credit card debt can seem almost impossible
at times. When you look at the many bills rushing in each month and then you
start going through that credit card bill, the idea of actually starting to pay
that bill down can be overwhelming. And part of the reason that uphill battle to
win over debt seems so hard is those almost ridiculously high interest rates
credit card companies are allowed to charge.

If you have a credit card debt in the thousands of dollars and that interest
rate can get above 15%, that is going to mean that a large portion of your
monthly payment is going to go toward the interest. And what that means is that
your balance will go down slowly which is very discouraging especially if you
are also using the credit card so your balance continues to go up and up and up.

How often have you looked at the average interest rate that the credit card
companies are charging you and thought, "I sure wish there was some way I could
but that interest rate in half or less"? If you could just get that interest
rate down under 10% or even better, that step alone would help you put more of
the payment money you pay out each month toward reducing the debt. And if that
rate could be locked in so it isn't constantly being jacked up by the credit
card company, then you have a real path toward paying off what you owe once and
for all.

There may be a way to actually get a credit card rate you can live with from
the credit cards services you already are working with. It goes back to that
old advice that your mom or dad might have given that goes -- "You don't know
until you ask." That's right it is very likely that if you call the credit card
company and explain to them the situation, they might have the resources to
negotiate a rate with you that you can live with and offer you the same
services a credit consolidation company would offer.

It's good to take a moment and look at the world through the eyes of the credit
card company. They are in business to keep good customers who pay their bills.
For credit card company, the worst kind of customer is one who is constantly
late on their payments or doesn't pay at all so they have to go through the
expense of nagging those customers for the money. And customers who have the
resources to dump them because their rates are too high are also a big threat
to their livelihood because they depend on you needing them and being willing
to pay those interest rates and fees.

So rather than see you dump them or take your debt elsewhere like to a credit
consolation service or a second mortgage, its better business for the credit
card company to cut your rate and continue to make some money off of your debt.
Competition is just as intense for the good customers in the credit card world
as it is in any other business. So if you pay your bills and are the kind of
customer these companies like, you have a bit of leverage with them that you
may not have known you had.

Make sure when you call the credit card company to renegotiate your rate that
you talk to someone who can actually change things. And bring some clout with
you. Be prepared to cancel your credit cards or move your debt to another card
or credit service. If you let that credit card company know you are unhappy
because of the rate, they will have some kind of program to keep your business.
They aren't going to tell you about it but its there. And if you are persistent
and want it bad enough, you can get the credit card companies to play ball your
way and give you a premium interest rate you can live with.

Taking Credit Card Debt Down the Way You Ran it Up.

Sometimes we don't take the time to get a real world understanding of not only
what credit card debt is but how we got into this mess and what its going to
take to get out of it. The first steps of solving the problem are the most
important because by identifying what the problem is, you also identify what it
isn't. So if we can think logically about the problem of being buried in credit
card debt, the path to digging out will become more clear.

It doesn't take a committee to figure out the heart of how all this debt got
started because it boils down to a very basic statement of economic fact. And
that is that you got in debt because you spent more than you made. In other
words, you are living at a standard of living higher than your income can
support. And the overflow goes to debt.

It is pretty brutal when it gets to that level of honesty but when you look at
it that way, then the solution begins to become clear to you. Now it's
important when doing this kind of analysis that no guilt is allowed. There are
a lot of perfectly acceptable reasons you may have fallen into the debt. It's
not like you are necessarily running around spending lavishly on expensive cars
and trips overseas.

Lots of things happen to a family budget that you have no control over and
using your credit to handle it is the responsible thing to do. You may have
lost your job or source of income. There may have been a family medical crisis
that you just had to handle with credit funding. There are home repair
emergencies, weather emergencies or trips you have to take to keep everything
together. So for whatever reason as that credit hill turns into a credit
mountain, then it becomes the family emergency to tackle.

The solution is evident from our diagnosis. It quite simply is not only to get
to where you live within your means but to generate sufficient income to start
paying that credit card debt mountain down the same way you drove it up, a
little at a time. There are a lot of very adult things you can do and should do
to make this dream a reality. You have to stop the debt from going up so to
cancel as many credit cards as possible reduces the chance they will continue
to accumulate charges.

Getting control over spending is going to take some family discipline. But if
the whole family knows it's also a family quest to get this debt off your
backs, everybody can pitch in. You can eat at home and never out. You can scale
back extras like cable TV or entertainment buying. You can let the holidays be
about love and not gifts for a few years.

This also might be the time to think about adding some additional income to the
family budget to get that overflow that you can use to attack the credit
mountain more aggressively. One adult might take a second job and everyone
agrees that every cent of that job will go against that debt. Keep good records
and when the family sees that the debt is coming down, celebrate, albeit do so
cheaply.

This is a hard step especially for the parent who has to work two jobs or if
you have to send mom back to work for a little while to get this situation
under control. Sometimes it can be made less harsh if the second job is
something the adult going out likes to do like work a book store or a garden
center which may be a hobby. Or if the job is on the internet, that parent
could work in the comfort of home and make that extra money.

But as the size of that debt starts to go down and month after month it gets
smaller and smaller and the interest payments get smaller and some of the
credit cards get paid off and all of a sudden there is more money in the family
budget, that extra hard work and careful cost cutting will have all paid off and
everyone will breath a sigh of relief because you took the credit card down the
same way you ran it up, one month at a time.

Taking a step towards credit card debt elimination

So you have decided to go for credit card debt elimination and are wondering on
what the methods for credit card debt elimination are. As they say, let's take
the bull by its horns and lay it all flat on the ground. There are generally 2
recommendations that are most common for credit card debt elimination:
controlling the expenditures and consolidating debt. Let's check both of these
credit card debt elimination recommendations and check the list of things that
you can do for achieving credit card debt elimination using these
recommendations:

1.  Control your urge to spend: The first thing to do for credit card debt
elimination is to control your expenditures. Here we are talking about the
payments you make using your credit card. Remember that the main reason being
your getting into credit card debt is uncontrolled expenditures using your
credit card. So if you are really serious about credit card debt elimination,
this is one thing that will help in credit card debt elimination by preventing
accumulation of further debt. Here is what you can do to control your
expenditures: a.  You need to stay away from attractive offers that are put-up
by various shops and stores. Don't buy anything that you don't really-really
need. After all you are looking for credit card debt elimination not
supplementation. b.  Leave your credit card at home. If you really-really need
something, then you can fetch your credit card from your house. This will
prevent you from yielding to the too-attractive-to-resist sale offers (that are
actually there all the year round). This credit card debt elimination technique,
again, works on the principal of 'prevention is better than cure'. This will
prevent unplanned expenses from happening. c.  Prepare a monthly budget and
stick to it. This is really a very important credit card debt elimination
measure. This budget will form the basis of your credit card debt elimination
plan. So if you deviate from your budget, your credit card debt elimination
plan will go for a toss.

2.  Debt consolidation: Debt consolidation or moving from high APR credit cards
to a low APR one is generally the first step (the first reactive step) for
credit card debt elimination. Here are a few things that you need to do: a.  Do
not go for the first balance offer you come across. Analyse various offers and
choose the one that best suits you. This will be an important thing on you
credit card debt elimination plan. Initial APR, Initial APR period and standard
Apr, all need to be considered. b.  Read the fine print on the balance transfer
offer and check the terms and conditions on these. These might affect your
overall credit card debt elimination plan. c.  Compare other benefits e.g.
rebates, reward points, etc, before you actually decide to go for one of the
offers.

Credit card debt elimination is about proper planning and discipline. So make
your credit card debt elimination plan and stick to it.

Credit card debt counseling Is 'credit card debt counseling' really beneficial?

Not everyone believes that credit card debt counseling is beneficial and there
are various reasons for that. Some people just read articles in the newspapers
or find advice on the internet and take that as the final thing. So they don't
feel the need for credit card debt counseling. Some others feel that credit
card debt counseling companies are just trying to make quick money by telling
you the obvious i.e. by telling you something that is being advertised
everywhere. However, the most important reason arises from the fact that not
all credit card debt counseling companies are genuine and of those that are
genuine, not all credit card debt counseling companies provide good advice. So,
choosing a proper credit card debt counseling company becomes a critical factor
in determining the success of credit card debt counseling. Always go for a
reputable credit card debt counseling company, even if their fee is a bit
higher. Remember that a proper credit card debt counseling can help you in not
just eliminating your credit card debt, but eliminating your credit card debt
in a way that is so cost effective as to more than offset the fee credit card
debt counseling company is charging you. Moreover, proper credit card debt
counseling can save you a lot of time and energy that you would have otherwise
spend in studying all about credit card debt, gathering information about
various credit card debt elimination measures and comparing these measures.
Further, these credit card debt counseling companies can present more than one
solution to you from which you can choose whatever appeals the most to you.
These credit card debt counseling agencies can also get your credit card debt
settled much quicker than if you were trying to do it all by yourself (and
without any credit card debt counseling). Also, credit card debt counseling
could bring to light things which you would not have been able to see e.g.
risks with the approach you were thinking to adopt or a futuristic view of
things. Moreover, a person who earns his/her bread by practicing credit card
debt counseling as a profession, would know the tricks of the trade which no
one else would even have an inkling to e.g. pitfalls of a particular debt
consolidation offer, or advantages of another offer etc etc.

There is no doubt with regards to the benefits that credit card debt counseling
can bring to you. However, you need to be careful and avoid the fraudsters and
pick up someone who has a good reputation.

Credit card debt consolidation loans

Credit card debt consolidation is regarded as the first step towards getting
rid of credit card debt. Credit card debt consolidation loan is one of the ways
of consolidating credit card debt. Besides, credit card debt consolidation loan,
you can also go for balance transfer to another credit card. In fact, due to the
publicity by credit card suppliers, balance transfers seem to be more talked
about than credit card debt consolidation loan. Some people kind of forget about 
credit card debt consolidation loan being available as a method of credit card debt
consolidation. However, credit card debt consolidation loan too is important to
consider when going for credit card debt consolidation.

So what do we mean by credit card debt consolidation loan?

Put simply, credit card debt consolidation loan is a low interest loan that you
apply for with a bank or financial institution in order to clear off your high
interest credit card debt. So credit card debt consolidation loan too is based
on same principle as balance transfers i.e. moving from one or more high
interest debts to a low interest one. The credit card debt consolidation loan
has to be paid back in monthly instalments and as per the terms and conditions
agreed between you and the dispenser of credit card debt consolidation loan.

Credit card debt consolidation loan, in general terms, is an unsecured loan
i.e. doesn't require you to pledge any security. However, if you have a really
bad credit history and you want go for credit card debt settlement using credit
card debt consolidation loan, the credit card debt consolidation loan will take
the form of a secured credit card debt consolidation loan. This type of credit
card debt consolidation loan requires you to pledge a security e.g. the home
owned by you or something else that has a value which is comparable to your
credit card debt consolidation loan amount. So, worse the credit rating, the
more difficult it is to get a credit card debt consolidation loan.

Though balance transfers and credit card debt consolidation loans have the same
objective behind them, the credit card debt consolidation loans are sometimes
considered better because you end up closing most of your credit card accounts
which have been the main culprit in landing you in this difficult situation.
However, balance transfers have their own advantages which are not available
with credit card debt consolidation loans. Choosing between credit card debt
consolidation loan and balance transfer is really a matter of personal choice.

Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies

Some people like to deal with their credit card debt all by themselves.
However, some people do use credit card debt settlement agency.

There can be various reasons for going for a credit card debt settlement
agency. Some people use a credit card debt settlement agency because they are
not comfortable in dealing with credit card debt settlement by themselves.

Some go for a credit card debt settlement agency because they don't have the
time to do the research and evaluate options for credit card debt settlement.
Others just want professional advice and hence they contact credit card debt
settlement agency.

Whatever be the reason for employing a credit card debt settlement agency, a
good credit card debt settlement agency would surely be of help. However, it's
important that you select a good credit card debt settlement agency. Do not
fall for ads of credit card debt settlement agencies that promise to wipe off
your debt overnight.

No credit card debt settlement agency or anyone else can do that. You should
select a credit card debt settlement agency which has verifiable credentials or
a credit card debt settlement agency that you know has a good reputation.

If some friend has been through this process previously, they might be able to
recommend a credit card debt settlement agency to you. Sometimes you will find
ads that promise impossible things and ask you to call a telephone number
that's a premium line. So beware, or else you might end up paying heavy phone
bills that would just add to your debt.

Some credit card debt settlement agencies might be having a very low fee but no
reputation. These are again the credit card debt settlement agencies that you
should avoid. However, once you find a reputable credit card debt settlement
agency, do not try to hide debt related information from them, no matter how
bad your debt it. That is another reason for looking for a reputable credit
card debt settlement agency.

If the credit card debt settlement agency is not a reputable one, you would not
be able to trust them; and trust is very important here otherwise you will
neither be able to tell them the full story and nor follow their advice. That
said, it's important to note that no credit card debt settlement agency will be
able to help you if you are not ready to help yourself. So, follow the advice
given by credit card debt settlement agency and practice good spending habits.

Credit card debt help Before you go for credit card debt help

Generally you will find that there is more credit card debt help available than
is actually needed. Just flip through the newspaper and you would be surprised
by the number of advertisements related to credit card debt help. Every now and
then, there are articles on credit card debt and credit card debt help.
Television channels are full of ads related to credit card debt help. There are
websites and magazines that are dedicate to credit card debt help. You also hear
about the topic of 'credit card debt help' being discussed in parliament. There
seem to be policies/laws being formed for credit card debt help. All kinds of
suggestions seem to be floating for credit card debt help. Everyone, even some
of your friends, have a piece of advice related to credit card debt help. All
banks seem to offer credit card debt help in term of various loan types
(generally short term loans) at low rates.

So, credit card debt help is readily available and in fact even unwanted credit
card debt help or advice will flow into your ears. However, not every one
offering credit card debt help is proficient enough to be able to provide
proper credit card debt help that will suit you. So you do need to understand
some basics about credit cards and credit card debt, before you actually go
looking for credit card debt help or before you start helping yourself out with
your credit card debt. So you should try and understand how the credit card
suppliers bill you, how the interest is calculated on your credit card balance
and how your credit card debt grows. Understanding all about APR, goes without
saying. Even if you think that you had gone through all this stuff at the time
of choosing your credit card, you should revisit these concepts to make sure
that you still know them. If you decide against going for professional credit
card debt help, you will need to understand these concepts in even more detail.
All these concepts will become handy when you are comparing various balance
transfer offers (for example). Moreover, the knowledge of these concepts will
also be helpful in making the discussions with credit counsellor more fruitful.

So credit card debt help really starts with developing a better understanding
of credit cards and other concepts related to credit cards (irrespective of
whether you go for external credit card debt help or not).

Bad debt credit card 'Bad debt credit card'- what's that?

Bad debt credit card is basically a credit card that the credit card suppliers
offer to the people who have bad debt. Did that astonish you? Well, don't let
your thoughts run just yet.

You can classify bad debt credit cards into 2 categories based on what you
understand by bad debt credit card. The first category of bad debt credit cards
is those credit cards that are secured (and are also known as secured credit
cards). These bad debt credit cards require a security i.e. you have to open
(and maintain) a bank account with the bad debt credit card supplier. The
credit limit on your bad debt credit card is calculated as a percentage of the
balance you hold in the bank account you have opened with bad debt credit card
supplier. Generally, this is 50-100% of your bank account balance. So, this bad
debt credit card enables you to spend the amount you hold in your bank account;
only the way you spend it changes (i.e. instead of spending that as cash you
spend it using your bad debt credit card). So bad debt credit card lets you
enjoy the convenience and other benefits that are associated with credit cards,
even with a bad debt. This security is as such important for the bad debt credit
card supplier; after all how can you trust someone who has a bad credit rating.

The other category of bad debt credit cards are nothing unusual, they are the
same cards that we know of most commonly; the only difference is in the way you
get them and the objective behind getting them. Here, we are talking about the
credit cards that you use as a debt consolidation mechanism i.e. consolidating
bad debt (as such any debt is bad). So we can call them bad debt credit cards
too. These operate by transferring of the balance you owe on your current, high
interest credit cards to these bad debt credit cards that have a lower APR (at
least for some initial period). Hence, these bad debt credit cards help you in
consolidating your debt and getting some relief from the higher APR that you
were experiencing on your current card.

Some people accept both of the above categories of credit cards as bad debt
credit cards while others tend to go with one or the other. So, what you regard
as a bad debt credit card is really a matter of personal choice.

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.

After High School Getting In Hock Is Easy

Credit card debt doesn't shy away from anyone who doesn't want to shy away from
it. It treats everyone equally irrespective of whether the person is a seasoned
professional or just a college student. So college student credit card debt
isn't uncommon either.

Since the credit limit on college student credit cards is much lower, the
college student credit card debt cannot rise to the levels it does for other
credit cards. However, college student credit card debt is an even bigger
menace because a lot of students are already in debt due to the loan they have
taken for their education.

If they pass out of college with college student credit card debt, they will
have to payback not just the loan they taken for studies but also their college
student credit card debt.

Since most of the college students are inexperienced in the usage of credit
cards, they can easily fall prey to what we call as 'college student credit
card debt'.

In fact, college student credit card debt is one reason why the credit card
suppliers keep a lower credit limit on college student credit cards. The
solution for avoiding college student credit card debt is similar to what it is
for avoidance of any type of credit card debt.

So, the first thing for avoiding college student credit card debt is to
understand the concept that credit card is not free money and that whatever you
pay-for using your credit card has to be paid back to the credit card supplier
when your credit card bill arrives. So don't treat credit card separate from
hard cash.

Avoid overspending e.g. do not buy things just because they are on sale, sales
keep coming and going and there are always better offers each time; buy only
those things that you really need. A good thing to do is to prepare your
monthly budget and follow it religiously. Never budge from your budget. Another
very important preventive measure for avoiding college student credit card debt
is to avoid going for a second credit card.

Some students have a tendency to go for multiple credit cards just because the
credit limit on college student credit cards is very low. However, this is a
perfect recipe for getting into a college student credit card debt. This is how
college student credit card debt builds up. One credit card is more than enough
for any student.

College student credit card is really meant to be treated like a training
ground for learning more about credit cards. It should not be make an
instrument of debt (college student credit card debt).

Putting Your Plastic Problems In One Pile

We know that it's good to consolidate credit card debt (at least that is what
we keep hearing from everyone). In fact, the first step towards addressing the
problem of credit card debt is to consolidate credit card debt. Now, what do
you do to consolidate credit card debt? Should you just go with that attractive
ad in the newspaper that says '...the lowest APR in the town is available here'?

The first thing, really, is to keep your eyes and ears open. There are always a
number of offers available for you to choose from. The credit card suppliers
keep coming with new and more attractive offers asking you to consolidate
credit card debt with them. However, you must note that the APR quoted in bold,
e.g. 0% APR, is applicable only for a short term (3-9 months).

The long term (or the standard) APR is different. So, when you go looking for a
credit card to consolidate credit card debt, you must be keenly looking for
these 3 things (in terms of APR) -- introductory APR, introductory APR period
and the standard APR. Let's see how each one is important.

Introductory APR is probably the most attractive thing to look for when you are
looking to consolidate credit card debt. If you consolidate credit card debt to
a card that has a low introductory APR e.g. 0%, the first thing you get is a
breather/relief in terms of the rate at which your credit card debt has been
growing.

Based on how long that 0% APR period is (generally you will look to consolidate
credit card debt with a credit card supplier who offers 0% initial APR), you
will at least be able to temporarily break the growth rate of your credit card
debt. More the introductory period, the better it is.

However, you should not ignore the standard APR when you consolidate credit
card debt. This is the interest rate that will be applied to your balance after
the expiry of the introductory low APR period that was given to lure you to
consolidate credit card debt with that credit card supplier.

If the standard APR is too high and you know that you will not be able to clear
off the entire credit card debt during the low APR period, that credit card is
probably not the best for you to consolidate credit card debt to.

However, if you think that you will be able to clear off the entire credit card
debt during that period, you can make some compromises on the standard APR of
the credit card to which you consolidate credit card debt.

The card that synchronizes with your current and future financial position (and
needs), is the one you should consolidate credit card debt to.

Putting Your Card Debt On A Diet

Getting into debt is easy but getting out of it really a difficult task. This
holds good for any kind of debt and includes credit card debt too. Credit card
debt reduction needs planning and discipline in the way you spend money.

Credit card debt reduction starts with reduction in the expenditures you make
using your credit card. So, the first trick for credit card reduction is to go
for shopping without your credit card (carry some small amount of cash). This
credit card reduction technique isn't asking you to stop shopping, instead it's
just asking you to seriously evaluate the need of anything you want to purchase
and not just purchase it on the spur of the moment.

So, if you really-really need to buy it, you will go back to your home to fetch
your credit card thus introducing a delay that is instrumental in killing
spur-of-the-moment purchase (and hence helping in credit card debt reduction).
It gives you time to evaluate if it's really worth going back home and getting
the credit card for purchasing that item. So, in this case, credit card debt
reduction is achieved by preventing the debt from building up further. It's a
very effective credit card debt reduction measure.

The other effective way of credit card debt reduction is debt consolidation
i.e. consolidating debt from high APR credit cards to a low APR one. So this
credit card debt reduction measure works by reducing the rate at which your
credit card debt grows. Moreover, this way of credit card debt reduction also
gives you a breather in the form of a short initial period when the APR is 0%.

Besides credit card debt reduction, debt consolidation also brings some
additional benefits which are basically in terms of rewards etc offered by the
new credit card supplier. Thus this method of credit card debt reduction is
really more than just a credit card debt reduction method -- it's a benefit
provider too. If you are not comfortable in taking forward this method of
credit card debt reduction, you can seek the help of a credit card debt
assistance company.

Besides these two credit card debt reduction measures, which are really the
most important credit card debt reduction measures, there are other methods too
for credit card debt reduction. Another one is to ask your current credit card
supplier for help in credit card debt reduction i.e. by lowering the APR. It
might work out for you (as it does for some people).

Also remember, that there are people (professionals) out there who provide
advice on credit card debt reduction (just in case you need them).

Mistakes Searching For Credit Card Help

Credit card debt can really disturb the peace of your mind. You keep hearing
stories about people who run a debt on their credit card debt. Some of these
stories are serious and some others are amusing. Here's an amusing one:

The other day I heard a guy tell his story about how he went on his mission to
eliminate his credit card debt. He started with reading the advice on various
websites and trying various search engines and he was astonished at the number
of results he got.

One night he was so tired that he typed in 'card com credit debt en language
site'. After he typed 'card com credit debt en language site', he realized that
he had made a slight typing mistake in typing 'card com credit debt en language
site'.

His actual intention behind typing 'card com credit debt en language site' was
to search for only English sites (.com sites only) that offered credit card
debt related advice. His search amused him even more when he found that 'card
com credit debt en language site' did actually get him some results. Though the
search engine did recommend changing the 'en' to 'in', there were still some
results for 'card com credit debt en language site'.

He just went on to search for 'card com credit debt en language site' as just
one term. For 'card com credit debt en language site' as a single term, he got
lesser results than he had got for 'card com credit debt en language site'
typed in without quotes. He wondered, if a lot of people were making similar
searches as he was doing on 'card com credit debt en language site' i.e. using
random terms with a bit of mistyping.

He went on to typing 'card com credit debt en language site' on some other
search engines, just to check that. Soon, it kind of became a research (and
fun) of different kind i.e. searching for 'card com credit debt en language
site' and checking if 'card com credit debt en language site' actually meant
something.

He thought that it was a bit unusual to have some other people too that were
searching for or using the same term 'card com credit debt en language site'
(especially such a long term as 'card com credit debt en language site'). When
'card com credit debt en language site' was used without quotes, the search for
'card com credit debt en language site' did yield some useful yields.

So he went on to examine these results that were returned for 'card com credit
debt en language site'. However, that was just the fun part of it and he soon
went off to sleep.

Yes, he did have a laugh with his friends the next day.

Managing Your Plastic Money Problems Alone

Though a lot of people are comfortable with going forward with credit card debt
management all by themselves, not everyone is. There are people who don't really
want to tread into the territory of financial issues (credit card debt
management included). Such people generally prefer going to debt assistance
companies for advice on credit card debt management or for getting the credit
card debt management done through them.

However, even before we talk further on this topic of credit card debt
management, it's imperative to understand that any external person or agency
can only do a proper credit card debt management for you if you strictly follow
the advice/guidelines that they formulate as part of credit card debt management.

These credit card debt management guidelines are generally related to
controlling your spending (which basically means perseverance and contentment).

Going to a credit card debt management company or a credit card debt management
Advisor/professional is not meant only for people who are foreign to financial
topics but is sometimes fruitful for other people too (who are going with
credit card debt management all by themselves).

This arises from the fact that these credit card debt management professionals
(as any professional) would have more knowledge in that field than anyone else
that is not from that field/profession. So, firstly, you wouldn't know all the
tips and tricks that the credit card debt management professional would know
(and in fact this is something that you cannot read and learn overnight).

And secondly, it will save you a lot of time; because the person who practices
credit card debt management as a profession would know about all the latest
offers etc that are available in the market e.g. balance transfer offers etc
(and hence you don't need to go looking for all this stuff all by yourself).
All in all, a credit card debt management professional can help get you a
better deal that might more than compensate for the fee charged by that
professional.

If you look around you will find that there are hordes of companies and
professionals offering credit card debt management services. However, the key
here is that you choose someone whose credentials are already established (or
who can prove his credentials to you).

One good way of selecting a credit card debt management company/ professional
is to check with a friend or someone from your family, if they have used any
such service in recent times. After all, references are the best way of
building trust.

Steps To Tackle Plastic Debt

Looking for a solution to your Credit card debt problem?

First of all, you can take comfort in the fact that you are not the only one
fighting the credit card debt problem. There are hordes of people who might
have an even worse credit card debt problem compared to you; all of them
seeking to eliminate the credit card debt problem. So what is the solution to
credit card debt problem?

Well, the solution really is to smash the credit card debt problem with full
force and eliminate it completely. Now how do you do that?

There are many ways in which you can tackle credit card debt problem. Different
people suggest different ways of tackling credit card debt problem. However,
here is a simple step by step account of what you can do to get rid of credit
card debt problem:

1.  Take stock of the situation i.e. draw up a table with the following fields
-- Credit card name, balance, payment due day (the day of the month by which
you are required to make payment of your credit card bill), APR, reward points
earned, redemption offers applicable for your reward points balance, remarks.

2.  Fill the table up with data from your various credit cards.

3.  Figure out which credit card is contributing the most to the credit card
debt problem i.e. highest APR and highest balance.

4.  Check if reward points can be used to make partial payments or cover any
kind of fees or if the points can be bartered for something you need (spending
less means preventing the credit card debt problem from getting worse).

5.  Draw a comparison table of offers available for eliminating credit card
debt problem (i.e. consolidating credit card debt).

6.  First eliminate debt on the credit card that is contributing the most to
the credit card debt problem. 7.  Practice controlled and healthy spending
habits (after all you are looking to get rid of credit card debt problem and
not aggravate the credit card debt problem).

8.  Look for alternative means of adding to your income (more money means
earlier termination of credit card debt problem)

9.  See your debt reduce with time and celebrate the day when you finally put
an end to your credit card debt problem.

Remember this is just one of the ways of tackling credit card debt problem; you
might devise your approach for doing away with credit card debt problem. Any and
every approach is good if it fulfils the objective i.e. eliminates credit card
debt problem.

Rolling Your Plastic Debt Into One Payment

'Credit card debt consolidation' seems to be the most talked-about term in the
world of credit cards. It's true that credit cards have been very useful and
convenient for us and we, in fact, treat the credit cards as a necessity.
However, with every good you have evil too. In the world of credit cards,
'Credit card debt' is that evil and 'Credit card debt consolidation' is often
regarded as a medicine for treating credit card debt.

Anyone who has read any newspaper articles on 'Credit card debt' would already
know what credit card debt consolidation is. However, just for the benefit of
others, credit card debt consolidation, in simple terms, is the process of
consolidating debt which you hold on various high APR credit cards onto just
one low APR credit card.

Thus, the main benefit of credit card debt consolidation is realized in terms
of APR reduction (and hence reduction in credit card debt growth rate). This is
touted as the most important benefit (and sometimes the sole benefit) from
credit card debt consolidation. However, credit card debt consolidation comes
with few more benefits as well. Some of these credit card debt consolidation
benefits are widely publicized by the credit card suppliers and some not so
much:

1.  Initial APR: As mentioned above, lower APR is the biggest benefit from
credit card debt consolidation. Since credit card debt consolidation is used by
credit card suppliers as a tool to attract consumers, they generally offer a 0%
APR for an initial period of 6-9 months of you joining their credit card debt
consolidation programmed i.e. first few months after you get the new credit
card.

2.  Standard APR: Lower standard APR (i.e. the long term APR) is the other
important benefit from credit card debt consolidation. Though not all credit
card suppliers offer a lower standard APR with credit card debt consolidation
some do design credit card debt consolidation programmers with good standard
APR. These credit card debt consolidation programmers offer a trade-off between
initial and standard APR rates.

3.  0% on purchases: This is another common benefit from credit card debt
consolidation. The 0% interest (or some lower percentage) on purchases is
offered as an incentive for credit card debt consolidation. This credit card
debt consolidation benefit is again applicable only for a short initial period.

4.  Easy management: This credit card debt consolidation benefit is not as
discussed as others. However, one benefit of credit card debt consolidation
(from multiple to single credit card) is the fact that you need to track and
manage a lesser number of credit cards.

5.  Other benefits: The credit card debt consolidation exercise might bring you
some more benefits in terms of rebates, discounts and reward points (especially
if you move to a co-branded card as part of credit card debt consolidation)

Reduce credit card debt

Reduce credit card debt

"Reduce credit card debt and eliminate it before it assumes a horrifying shape"
-- This is really the gist of the story. So, how do you reduce credit card debt?
Well, you reduce credit card debt by preventing it from increasing and by paying
off what it is currently. Simple, isn't it?

Not really. If it was that simple to reduce credit card debt, then we wouldn't
have had so many people with credit card debt related problems. We would have
been able to reduce credit card debt problems and finally eliminate them (or
reduce them significantly). There are all kinds of advice available on how to
reduce credit card debt, but still nothing much seems to change. The problem
still seems to persist and in fact, worsen. However, it's not that difficult to
reduce credit card debt. As we just said, there is a lot of advice available on
how to reduce credit card debt and the only thing you need to do is put that
advice, on how to reduce credit card debt, to practice in real life. Well, no
one but you will benefit if you reduce credit card debt.

So the first step to reduce credit card debt is to prevent it from taking
dangerous proportions. The 2 most important ways of implementing this step are
-- balance transfers and use of cash.

Balance transfer is often treated as the number one measure to reduce credit
card debt. This is really something that can help reduce credit card debt by
slowing down the pace at which your credit card debt is getting built. It also
provides you relief in terms of the APR being 0% for initial 6-9 months (and
hence helps reduce credit card debt faster). To reduce credit card debt using
this mechanism, you need to transfer your balance from your current credit
card(s) onto another credit card that has a lower APR than your current card.
Thus you reduce credit card debt by preventing it from increasing so rapidly.

The other preventive measure to reduce credit card debt is to use cash instead
of card (as such, hard earned cash is difficult to get out of pocket as
compared to just a credit card). So you reduce credit card debt by not adding
more to it. That is the simplest way to reduce credit card debt.

However, you can reduce credit card debt only if you stick to your resolution
to reduce credit card debt; otherwise it will fail miserably.

Real Up Sides To Debt Counseling

Not everyone believes that credit card debt counseling is beneficial and there
are various reasons for that. Some people just read articles in the newspapers
or find advice on the internet and take that as the final thing. So they don't
feel the need for credit card debt counseling.

Some others feel that credit card debt counseling companies are just trying to
make quick money by telling you the obvious i.e. by telling you something that
is being advertised everywhere. However, the most important reason arises from
the fact that not all credit card debt counseling companies are genuine and of
those that are genuine, not all credit card debt counseling companies provide
good advice.

So, choosing a proper credit card debt counseling company becomes a critical
factor in determining the success of credit card debt counseling. Always go for
a reputable credit card debt counseling company, even if their fee is a bit
higher.

Remember that a proper credit card debt counseling can help you in not just
eliminating your credit card debt, but eliminating your credit card debt in a
way that is so cost effective as to more than offset the fee credit card debt
counseling company is charging you. Moreover, proper credit card debt
counseling can save you a lot of time and energy that you would have otherwise
spend in studying all about credit card debt, gathering information about
various credit card debt elimination measures and comparing these measures.

Further, these credit card debt counseling companies can present more than one
solution to you from which you can choose whatever appeals the most to you.
These credit card debt counseling agencies can also get your credit card debt
settled much quicker than if you were trying to do it all by yourself (and
without any credit card debt counseling).

Also, credit card debt counseling could bring to light things which you would
not have been able to see e.g. risks with the approach you were thinking to
adopt or a futuristic view of things. Moreover, a person who earns his/her
bread by practicing credit card debt counseling as a profession, would know the
tricks of the trade which no one else would even have an inkling to e.g.
pitfalls of a particular debt consolidation offer, or advantages of another
offer etc etc.

There is no doubt with regards to the benefits that credit card debt counseling
can bring to you. However, you need to be careful and avoid the fraudsters and
pick up someone who has a good reputation.

Put All Card Debt Together And Pay Less

'Credit card debt consolidation' is a phrase that you must have come across
many times. There are hundreds of sites with advice on credit card debt
consolidation. Every now and then your favourite newspaper will also contain an
article or advise on credit card debt consolidation. TV channels host
discussions on credit card debt consolidation. Moreover, there are numerous
consultants and companies that provide professional advice on credit card debt
consolidation. So what is this "Credit card debt consolidation" that everyone
is talking about? Why is it such an important topic?

"Credit card debt consolidation" refers to consolidation of the debt on various
credit cards into a single credit card (or a couple of credit cards). Generally,
you move from a higher APR credit card to a lower APR one. You might ask 'why?'
If you look into how the vicious circle of credit card debt works, you will
immediately understand the logic behind that.

Credit card debt grows in 2 ways. One is due to addition of new debt on account
of fresh spends on your credit card and the second is due to addition of
interest charges to the existing credit card debt.

The first one is due to your use of credit card but the second one is due to
interest charges which are calculated on the basis of the interest rate or the
APR applicable to your credit card. So a lower APR rate means that your credit
card debt will grow at a slower pace and hence switching over to a card with
lower APR makes perfect sense.

The process of credit card debt consolidation is also referred to as balance
transfer process (you transfer the balance or debt from one credit card to
another).The credit card debt consolidation (or balance transfer) offers are
made even more attractive by the credit card suppliers by associating various
benefits with them.

The simple logic behind offering these benefits is the fact that such a
customer would be defecting from one of their competitors. The biggest benefit
offered by these credit card suppliers is 0% interest on balance transfers (or
credit card debt consolidation). This 0% APR is generally applicable for a
short period of time i.e. 3-6 months, after which the standard APR is
applicable.

Other credit card debt consolidation offers include things like interest free
purchase for a short period, reward points, etc. These credit card debt
consolidation offers make the exercise of credit card debt consolidation even
more logical and meaningful.

Credit card debt consolidation seems to be a good way of tackling the problem
of credit card debt and that is the reason why there is so much of discussion
on the topic of Credit card debt consolidation.

Problematic Plastic Money

Credit cards are no more a luxury, they are almost a necessity. So, you would
imagine a lot of people going for credit cards. In fact, a lot of people posses
more than one credit cards. So, the credit card industry is growing by leaps and
bounds.

However, the credit card industry and credit card holders are posed with a big
problem called 'Credit Card Debt'. In order to understand what 'credit card
debt' actually means, we need to understand the workflow associated with the
use of credit cards as such.

Credit cards, as the name suggests, are cards on which you can get credit i.e.
make borrowings (your credit card debt). Your credit card is a representative
of the credit account that you hold with the credit card supplier. Whatever
payments you make using your credit card are actually your borrowings that
contribute towards your credit card debt.

Your total credit card debt is the total amount you owe credit card supplier.
You must settle your credit card debt on a monthly basis. So, you receive a
monthly statement or your credit card bill which shows your total credit card
debt. You must pay off your credit card debt by the payment due date failing
which you will incur late fee and interest charges.

However, you have the option of making a partial (minimum) payment too, in
which case you don't incur late fee but just the interest charges on your
credit card debt. If you don't pay off your credit card debt in full, the
interest charges too get added to it.

So your credit card debt keeps on increasing, more so because the interest
rates on credit card debt are generally higher than the interest rates on other
kind of loans/borrowings. Further, the interest charges add on to your credit
card debt each month to form the new balance or the new credit card debt amount.

If you continue making partial payments (or no payments) the interest charges
are calculated afresh on the new credit card debt. So you end up paying
interest on the last month's interest too. Thus your credit card debt
accumulates rapidly and soon you find that what was once a relatively small
credit card debt has ballooned into a big amount which you find almost
impossible to pay.

Moreover, if you don't still control your spending habits, your credit card
debt rises even faster. This is how the vicious circle of credit card debt
works.

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 alterative 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.

Handing the Debt Off

The credit card business is one of the most competitive industries there is.
You can tell that because you no doubt get dozens of invitations for new credit
cards every week. That is because the only way a credit card company can
continue to grow new business is to steal the business away from another credit
card company. It isn't really a business where there are a lot of new customers
coming into the market. The types of accounts the credit card companies want
are people who are carrying a lot of debt, who continue to pay on the debt but
never pay it off and who have no history of defaulting on their loans. If that
describes you, then you are on the A list for a potential customer for a credit
card company.

If you have a lot of credit card debt, it really isn't that flattering that
other credit card companies want your business. Even more infuriating is when a
credit card company who already has you in debt sends you offers for still more
credit cards. But there may be a glimmer of light in this tough situation. You
might be able to leverage you're "A list" position with the credit world to
find a way to manage your credit card debt more successfully.

Typically if you have three or four or more credit accounts, the credit ceiling
on those accounts probably have gotten pretty high. That is because, as we just
reviewed, if you carry debt but pay on it, that sets a cycle in motion for the
credit card companies to offer you as much debt as they think you might use so
you can owe them even more money. Again, while this seems cruel and heartless,
that is how these folks make their living so they have to find some way of
attracting the debt of the A list customers.

But another method they also use is to offer you an attractive rate of interest
to either start a new account or transfer debt from an account you have to your
existing account. A common "come on" is to offer you zero percent financing
which seems wonderful because in theory you could transfer all of most of your
debt to the generous company and not pay any interest which would greatly speed
your pay off.

Transferring balances has its good side and its negative side and you need to
be smart about both. Read every word of the offer, even the small print on the
back of the page because you must understand any hidden fees you might face if
you accept their generosity. Almost always the zero percent or low percentage
rate is for a very limited time of perhaps three or four months. In credit card
land, this is a heartbeat. Then once they have your account balance of your debt
built up, they can jack your rates up and you are right back where you started.

So be smart about using these kinds of offers. A great tactics is simply to
transfer a fairly small amount of your debt to the zero percent offer. Transfer
$1000 and then pay it off over the three to four mouth period. You win because
you paid no interest and they lose because they can't sting you with a high
interest rate at the end. Also be aware of any transfer fees or membership fees
if you are taking out a new card. These fees can amount to additional interest
and negate much of the benefit. But if you are smart and use these offers
shrewdly, they can be terrific ways for you to drive down your credit card debt
surfing "come ons" from the credit cards companies in a clever fashion.

Haggling With Your Creditors

Credit card debt is really a menace and a lot of people are facing it around
the globe. Credit card debt consolidation and bank loans are well known as ways
of reducing and eliminating credit card debt. In all this confusion, credit card
debt negotiation almost gets forgotten.

Well, credit card debt negotiation starts right from your credit accounts where
you have the most hard-hitting credit card debt. This means credit card debt
negotiation has to be taken up with your current credit providers. Before you
misinterpret it, let me clarify that we are not talking about chucking off a
portion of your debt through credit card debt negotiation. We are talking
primarily about using credit card debt negotiations for getting the APR on your
current credit cards reduced to some lower figure.

So, credit card debt negotiation is about talking to your current credit card
suppliers for informing them about your intention to clear off your credit card
debt and using your skills (credit card debt negotiation skills) to agree a
lower APR rate with them. Basically, credit card debt negotiation is about
asking your current credit card suppliers for help/assistance in clearing off
your credit card debt.

If credit card debt negotiation is successful, it will save you not only money
(due to reduction in APR) but also the hassle that is associated with looking
for a new credit card (to transfer balance).

However, if the credit card debt negotiation, with your current credit card
supplier, doesn't yield the desired results, you will have to look for other
credit suppliers who can help you in consolidating your debt. Again, you will
need your negotiation skills (rather credit card debt negotiation skills) to
get a good deal from them.

If your credit card debt negotiations work out well, you might be able to get a
really low standard APR or you might get a longer term on 0% APR (or you might
get both). These are really the most important things and your credit card debt
negotiations should concentrate more on these than anything else.

The other thing to include on your credit card debt negotiation would be the
credit limit and other benefits. Here, you are basically trying out the
possibility of getting a better credit card as part of your credit card debt
negotiation.

For people with really bad credit rating, getting an unsecured bank loan or
getting another credit card (for balance transfer) is really difficult. For
them, getting an unsecured bank loan or credit card is what you would term as
credit card debt negotiation.

So, don't hesitate in going for credit card debt negotiation. It is surely an
option available for all.

Make the Credit Card Companies March to Your Tune

Does it ever seem like credit card companies seem to treat their customers like
indentured slaves? The policies that these credit companies use to handle your
accounts are at best unscrupulous and at worst, down right outrageous and
robbery. If any other industry tried to cheat their customers out of money like
the credit card companies successfully do every day of the year, they would be
investigated and jailed with a vengeance. But our government doesn't do that so
the credit card companies literally have a license to steal.

The way these companies handle your accounts has a lot to do with why your
credit card debt is so hard to get rid of. When you owe a few thousand dollars
to a credit card company and they are constantly slapping you with fees, jack
up your interest rates and adding charges to your account for "membership dues"
and bogus things like this, it becomes clear that in addition to the debt, the
debt carriers are the enemy, not your friend in trying to get your debt down.

You can put them on notice and make them march to your tune but you are going
to have to "be the boss" to get that to happen. But if you get dozens of credit
card offers and perhaps have a half dozen credit card accounts already open, you
may have the flexibility to put them on notice that they credit card companies
have a job of serving you, not you serving them.

To make these arrogant companies face the music, they have to know that they
can be fired. To put them on notice, first make sure you know what they are up
to. Get a year's worth of statements and track the extra fees, the membership
dues and each time they jacked up their interest rates on you.

Then armed with that information, call them and demand to talk to someone who
can make changes to your account. If the clerk doesn't want to play ball, start
the process of closing the account. That will get their notice. You might have
to actually close the account but don't miss the chance to make comments when
they come to the part of the process where they ask why you are closing the
account.

This is where you get your licks in. You can leave as the reason something like
this. "I am closing the account because you are imposing unreasonable fees and
membership dues and I want the interest rate dropped to a certain rate and
capped."

That will get some attention. You will either get to a manager right away or
one will call you. Be prepared for a bunch of lame excuses and don't argue.
They can say they raised your interest rate because you were late on a payment
so this is a penalty. Ok fine. Then a good answer is, "I have a policy of not
paying you for work you do not do. So my policy says I drop the account." As
long as you stay on your strength, there is no answer they can give.

The secret weapon you know and that they don't want you to know is that you are
a premium customer. The credit card companies know there are a limited amount of
people who can carry a debt and make the payments. And each time they lose a
customer, that pool of victims, or customers, goes down. And don't be fooled by
any talk that they have no leverage to change the rules of the game. They can
and they will. You can demand they rebate to you all charges imposed since last
year. They can scream that you are being unreasonable all they want. You are
within your rights to respond, "It's unreasonable you impose fines and fees on
my account without notice and for no additional value or work that you are
doing. Its usury and I am within my rights to close this account and file a
complaint with the Better Business Bureau and with the US Attorney General."

This is not just scare tactics. These are words credit card companies live in
fear of hearing. So use the tools you have and put the credit card companies on
notice that they are going to march to your tune or, to borrow a catch phrase
from Donald Trump, "You're fired".

9 steps to tackle credit card debt problem Looking for a solution to your
Credit card debt problem?

First of all, you can take comfort in the fact that you are not the only one
fighting the credit card debt problem. There are hordes of people who might
have an even worse credit card debt problem compared to you; all of them
seeking to eliminate the credit card debt problem. So what is the solution to
credit card debt problem?

Well, the solution really is to smash the credit card debt problem with full
force and eliminate it completely. Now how do you do that?

There are many ways in which you can tackle credit card debt problem. Different
people suggest different ways of tackling credit card debt problem. However,
here is a simple step by step account of what you can do to get rid of credit
card debt problem. 1.  Take stock of the situation i.e. draw up a table with
the following fields -- Credit card name, balance, payment due day (the day of
the month by which you are required to make payment of your credit card bill),
APR, reward points earned, redemption offers applicable for your reward points
balance, remarks. 2.  Fill the table up with data from your various credit
cards. 3.  Figure out which credit card is contributing the most to the credit
card debt problem i.e. highest APR and highest balance. 4.  Check if reward
points can be used to make partial payments or cover any kind of fees or if the
points can be bartered for something you need (spending less means preventing
the credit card debt problem from getting worse). 5.  Draw a comparison table
of offers available for eliminating credit card debt problem (i.e.
consolidating credit card debt). 6.  First eliminate debt on the credit card
that is contributing the most to the credit card debt problem. 7.  Practice
controlled and healthy spending habits (after all you are looking to get rid of
credit card debt problem and not aggravate the credit card debt problem). 8. 
Look for alternative means of adding to your income (more money means earlier
termination of credit card debt problem) 9.  See your debt reduce with time and
celebrate the day when you finally put an end to your credit card debt problem.

Remember this is just one of the ways of tackling credit card debt problem; you
might devise your approach for doing away with credit card debt problem. Any and
every approach is good if it fulfils the objective i.e. eliminates credit card
debt problem.

Knowing When to Panic

There is another level to what should be the purely financial problem of how to
handle your credit card debt. That side has to do with the human toll that
carrying that debt from month to month and year to year can have on a person
and on a family. A family's finances are at the core of what make the family
work. The old joke goes "Money can't buy happiness but it can rent it." And
while that's cute, money and debt can make the difference between a family that
is able to live peacefully within its means and one that is on the verge of
disaster.

So when you sit down and decide that its time you took seriously the challenge
of conquering your credit card debt, you have some battles to fight that are
not just about interest rates and minimum payments. The truth is that none of
us can face down something as overwhelming as a massive credit card debt if we
just don't think we can do it.

A person's self confidence is rooted in the idea that he or she can and has had
success at facing a challenge before. So we can take on a new challenge because
you did it before and you can do it again. But when it comes to facing tens of
thousands of dollars of credit card debt, it's possible you have never faced
such an elusive enemy. It is an enemy that seems to want to swallow you up. And
that can cause despair and make you just want to throw up your hands and give up.

So the question comes, when is the best time to panic? Well, you know the
answer to that question is -- NEVER! This is not just pie in the sky optimism
talking here. There are some very pragmatic reasons that you should stubbornly
refuse to panic no matter how bad the credit card debt threatens to get.

For one thing, if you are the responsible adult in the house whose job it is to
handle the finances of the family, those people you love depend on you to guide
your family out of messes. This is the job of a head of household so the last
thing they want to see is for you to come unglued because of a few bills. So
for the sake of the people you love, keep your head and keep looking for
options and answers.

The other reason to not panic is that there is always something you can do. You
can get another job or find another income source to keep paying those debts
down. And as long as you can make the payments on any given month, there is
hope the next month you will start to pull ahead. As long as you have your
health and there are jobs to be had, you can work and get out of this mess. It
might take some hard work but you can do it.

But even if you cannot work and the bills keep getting higher and higher, that
is not a good reason to panic. You can renegotiate with lenders to get some
control over the debt. You can use a credit consolation service to get your
payments down and get on a schedule to pay them off over time. And at the very
end of the spectrum of what you can do, there is bankruptcy. And as bad as that
word sounds, bankruptcy is not the end of your world. Lots of people use it and
come out the other side of it fine and ready to take on the world again.

So take some heart in the fact that you really are not doomed and there is
always a way out of the mess you are in. It might take some looking, some
creative thinking and some leadership to get there. But you can only find those
resources inside yourself if you stubbornly refuse to panic.

Just Make Plastic Money Problems Go Away

It is easy to eliminate credit card debt

Well, anyone who makes this comment is sure to be labelled as a moron. However,
let me remind you of a famous quote "Where there is will, there is way". So that
is how easy it is to find a way to eliminate credit card debt. What you really
need in order to eliminate credit card debt is "Will Power".

No matter what method you adopt to eliminate credit card debt, no matter what
debt assistance company you approach (for advice on how to eliminate credit
card debt), no matter what your friends tell you, "Will Power" is essential if
you want to eliminate credit card debt. In fact, this starts from the word go.

Just examine the last part of my previous statement ": is essential IF YOU WANT
TO eliminate credit card debt", this statement itself implies that "IF YOU WANT
TO" or we can rephrase that as "if you have the will power to" eliminate credit
card debt.

Will power is what you need to control your urge to buy everything from the
market. Will power is needed to persevere. Will power is needed to analyze your
current financial situation. Will power is needed to sit and plan the ways and
means that you can adopt to eliminate credit card debt.

Will power is needed to approach a credit card debt assistance company. You
also need will power and patience for researching the market for the best
balance transfer plans. So really, will power is needed for every aspect of
credit card debt elimination.

Since "Will Power" is the only thing you need to eliminate credit card debt, we
can say that it is easy to eliminate credit card debt. However, this is easier
said than done for will power for anything (be it will power to eliminate
credit card debt or something else) is hard to come by. One way of
strengthening your will power, that is required to eliminate credit card debt,
is to portray the life after you successfully eliminate credit card debt.

Portray the peace of mind that you will get after you eliminate credit card
debt. How much fun it would be!! Moreover, the sense of achievement would be no
lesser either (after all not everyone is able to eliminate credit card debt).

Just think about all these good things and build your confidence and your will
power to eliminate credit card debt. There is really nothing as powerful as
will power. And remember "Where there is will, there is way".

When The Plastic Debt Is Gone

Credit card debt is a very big problem that is being faced by a lot of people
who have been irresponsible and undisciplined in the use of their credit card.
Though some might have landed up with credit card debt due to some unfortunate
event/emergency in their life, most people carry a credit card debt due to
their own wrong doings (i.e. wrong usage of their credit card debt).

There are a lot of ways to pay off credit card debt and a lot of people do
achieve this feat (i.e. are able to pay off credit card debt). Surely, to be
able to pay off credit card debt is really a great achievement in itself for
not everyone is able to pay off credit card debt.

It takes a lot of discipline, restraint, planning and perseverance to finally
pay off credit card debt. However, there is more to paying off credit card debt
then just being able to pay off credit card debt.

Here we are talking about the life after you pay off credit card debt
successfully. As mentioned before, of all the people that try to pay off credit
card debt not everyone is able to pay off credit card debt i.e. there are some
failures too.

However, some people fail after they have succeeded in paying off credit card
debt. These are those people who let themselves loose and go on a spending
spree as soon as they pay off credit card debt. Soon, these people again land
up with a credit card debt and are again trying to pay off credit card debt.
So, it's not enough to just pay off credit card debt, it's equally important to
maintain a debt-free status even after you pay off credit card debt; only then
can you enjoy a stress-free life in the world of credit cards.

So learn your lessons well and do not let yourself loose on the path to another
credit card debt. Most of the rules that you followed when you were trying to
pay off credit card debt, will also hold good after you have paid off your
credit card debt. Here is a quick synopsis of things that you should take care
of even after you pay off credit card debt:

1)  Do not overspend. Yielding to the sale offers for something that you don't
    really need, is a big mistake that leads to overspending 
2)  Always remain within 70% of your credit limit. 
3)  Make credit card bill payments in time and in full. 
4)  Don't hold more than 2 credit card accounts (two are enough for anyone)

These are just very basic things; you can add more based on your own experience
and knowledge.

Just How Bad Is Bad With Plastic Debt?

Bad debt credit card is basically a credit card that the credit card suppliers
offer to the people who have bad debt. Did that astonish you? Well, don't let
your thoughts run just yet.

You can classify bad debt credit cards into 2 categories based on what you
understand by bad debt credit card. The first category of bad debt credit cards
is those credit cards that are secured (and are also known as secured credit
cards). These bad debt credit cards require a security i.e. you have to open
(and maintain) a bank account with the bad debt credit card supplier.

The credit limit on your bad debt credit card is calculated as a percentage of
the balance you hold in the bank account you have opened with bad debt credit
card supplier. Generally, this is 50-100% of your bank account balance. So,
this bad debt credit card enables you to spend the amount you hold in your bank
account; only the way you spend it changes (i.e. instead of spending that as
cash you spend it using your bad debt credit card).

So bad debt credit card lets you enjoy the convenience and other benefits that
are associated with credit cards, even with a bad debt. This security is as
such important for the bad debt credit card supplier; after all how can you
trust someone who has a bad credit rating.

The other category of bad debt credit cards are nothing unusual, they are the
same cards that we know of most commonly; the only difference is in the way you
get them and the objective behind getting them. Here, we are talking about the
credit cards that you use as a debt consolidation mechanism i.e. consolidating
bad debt (as such any debt is bad).

So we can call them bad debt credit cards too. These operate by transferring of
the balance you owe on your current, high interest credit cards to these bad
debt credit cards that have a lower APR (at least for some initial period).
Hence, these bad debt credit cards help you in consolidating your debt and
getting some relief from the higher APR that you were experiencing on your
current card.

Some people accept both of the above categories of credit cards as bad debt
credit cards while others tend to go with one or the other. So, what you regard
as a bad debt credit card is really a matter of personal choice.

It Takes Planning To Get Out From Under Card Debt

Yes, you can get out of credit card debt. If you are determined to get out of
credit card debt you surely can get out of credit card debt. Though it's a bit
difficult to get out of credit card debt, it isn't impossible.

All you need to get out of credit card debt is determination and planning. Both
are equally important (or maybe determination is even more important).
Determination doesn't come without proper reason. So, you need to first ask
this question to yourself -- "What will I get if I am able to get out of credit
card debt?", "What difference will it make", "What's in it for me" or "Is it
really beneficial to get out of credit card debt".

Use the answers to build your determination. The fact that all the nagging via
mails/phone (by the credit card supplier and/or their collection agent), will
be gone, should do good to strengthening your determination and should provide
you with a reason on why you should endeavour to get out of credit card debt.

Think about the stress-free life after you get out of credit card debt. Try to
link various reasons together and try to see the benefits through them. All
these collectively will help in bolstering your determination and prevent it
from getting weak at any point in time.

The second thing that you need to get out of credit card debt is planning. The
planning to get out of credit card debt will start with making a list of the
credit cards that you currently posses and noting the debt and the APR for each
of them. The sum total of all these various credit card debts, will give you the
total credit card debt.

You also need to check if you have been defaulting on payments on some of these
credit cards (and hence incurring a late fee). You will need to avoid that and
put it on the plan you have prepared to get out of credit card debt.

The next step in getting out of credit card debt is to check your current
financial position and make an assessment of what you expect your future
financial position to be. Next comes the research to check the various balance
transfer offers available in the market; to see if one of these can prove
beneficial to you.

Use all this information to calculate how much time you will require to get out
of credit card debt and how you will distribute the debt payment across your
various credit cards (ensuring that you payoff the debt that is hitting you the
most and also ensuring that you don't incur late fee on any credit card payments)

Is Zero Percent For Real?

The desire to climb out of credit card debt is universal for anyone who is
fighting this big problem. And it isn't an isolated problem. More and more
people are having big problems with credit debt especially in these times when
you just about have to use credit every day.

There is something a little strange then about credit card companies coming in
with offers to help you climb out of credit card debt when its they that are
the problem in the first place. It's almost like a drug pusher pushing a new
drug that can get you off drugs but the drug he is pushing is just as addictive
as the last one. But when you get offers for new credit cards each month, they
often are pushing plans to help you get out of debt by going into debt to them.

Probably the offer that comes in that is most difficult to over look are the
offers to let you do a balance transfer of some of your debt and pay no
interest on it. These are often called zero percent offers and they have
skilled marketing people write the copy for these offers so you are prone to
believe that you really are going to be able to have a loan paying no interest
so you can just pay off the principle and that's that.

So are these zero percent credit card balance transfer offers for real? Well
they are in the sense that they might transfer some of the funds and yes, the
interest rate you will see on the first statement will be zero percent. But,
like all things, there are catches and things to look out for. You have to
remember that the credit card companies are entirely in the business of
collecting interest. They don't do anything else. They offer no value to
society, build no roads or hospitals, sell no food or medicine, make no TV
shows to make you laugh. They sit there, house your debt, collect interest and
try to talk you into running up more debt.

So when you get a zero percent offer, they plan on recovering the lost money
from the time they support your debt and you pay no interest. One way they do
that is with a transfer fee. They will almost always charge you a 3-5% balance
transfer fee with a minimum and sometimes a maximum value. Read the fine print
carefully to make sure you understand how much this is going to be and that you
agree to it. But be aware that the transfer fee is nothing more than disguised
interest. So calculate that against the interest you would have paid leaving
the debt where it is sitting now before you cash in on a zero percent balance
transfer.

Also you will rarely see a zero percent balance transfer that is not for a very
limited time frame, usually no more than three to six months. So with the
transfer fee factored in, you have to wonder if the effort of moving the money
was worth it. And at the end of the introductory period, they are going to
raise your interest rate to something that they, the credit card company want
it to be. Be absolutely sure you know what that interest rate is going to be
and that they live up to that stated level of interest. If you enjoy that zero
percent transfer for three months and then face years at 21% interest, you did
not win in that transaction, the credit card company won.

Consolidating credit card debt Is consolidating credit card debt a good option?

Well, the answer will more often be yes than no. Consolidating credit card debt
is often regarded as the first step towards credit card debt elimination.
However, even before you move to take first step towards consolidating credit
card debt, you must understand that consolidating credit card debt (or balance
transfer) is an action that you are taking to eliminate credit card debt.
Consolidating credit card debt is not a means of deferring the problem for
later.

Consolidating credit card debt is indeed a good option in more than one sense.
Not only do you get relief from the rapid increase in your credit card debt,
but also get other benefits too. Offers for consolidating credit card debt are
in abundance and are very attractive indeed. Almost all the offers for
consolidating credit card debt have an initial low APR period during which the
APR is generally 0% (or some low figure). In fact, this is one of the main
things which make consolidating credit card debt a very attractive option.
Besides this low APR, the offers for consolidating credit card debt also
include things like no interest rate on the purchases made during first 5
months (or some other initial period) of balance transfer. This is another
thing that lowers the speed at which your credit card debt gallops. So these
are the two most important benefits that credit card suppliers deploy to
attract people into consolidating credit card debt with them. Then there are
other benefits which include things like additional reward points on the
member's reward program of the credit card you are consolidating credit card
debt to. These reward points can be redeemed for other attractive
goods/rebates/rewards etc. Sometimes, the new credit card (i.e. the one you are
consolidating credit card debt to) might be a credit card that caters more to
your current spending needs both in terms of the credit limits and the way you
spend your money. For example, the new credit card might be a co-branded one
offered by an airline that you have started travelling with very frequently in
the recent times and consolidating credit card debt on such a card may open up
much more benefits as compared to your current credit card which was based on
your needs at the time of you applying for your current credit card. The credit
card you are consolidating credit card debt to might open up discount offers to
you.

Inside Out Credit Card Management

When the economy or personal issues and problems result in a high credit card
debt, we often find our debt spread over three or four or more cards. So you
may have a Visa, several MasterCards, a Discover card and a Capital One card
and maybe many more each carrying several thousands of dollars of debt. The
result is an ugly parade of bills from each company each needing a minimum
payment that pays the interest and takes just a small amount off of your debt.

If it seems that the debt mountain never seems to go down, that's not an
illusion. The situation is not designed to help you get that debt down. It's a
cruel mixed message the credit industry sends us because if you have high
credit card debt, your credit rating goes down. But even if you have too much
debt, the credit card companies just keep raising your credit ceiling and
sending more and more credit card offers to lure you into more debt.

The instinct is to keep taking out more accounts and transferring money to
those deceptive zero percent offers that expire in a matter of months and leave
you with yet another bill to pay that only makes managing that debt even more
impossible.

If you do get a little money ahead, the instinct is also to pay more down on
the debts that have the highest interest rates to try to slow the erosion of
your finances due to high rates.

But there is another approach to handling this debt that goes completely
opposite your instincts and gives more control to you to begin seeing headway
against those debts. But to use this approach, you will have to think with your
head, not your emotions and not panic but think about how to get as much
principle paid down as possible. This inside out approach to paying down your
credit cards is simple and gives you a roadmap to freedom from debt.

First of all, stop taking out more accounts. That only gives another credit
card company access to your money. They can charge you membership fees and try
to lure you with credit insurance. If you have three or more credit resources
already, that's plenty.

Second, use short term offers wisely. If one of your existing accounts offers
you a zero percent deal for a few months, take it but transfer a small amount
to that account. Then you can focus on paying off that transferred amount and
see 100% of your payment go against principle which is the fastest way out of
debt.

Third, pick a card and pay it off. It might be the card with the lowest balance
which is one you might give the least to so you can respond to the higher level
debts. But if you pay that card off, that is one less bill coming in each month
and it gives you a great feeling to know you are slowly killing off the monster
of credit card debt one card at time.

That brings us to the cornerstone of the inside out method. Instead of paying
on the card with the highest interest rate, pay them the minimum payment and
put your excess funds against the cards with the lowest rate. In this way you
are getting the most bang for your buck with the small amount of extra funds
you may have to pay on the debt. That debt will go down more quickly and then
you can attack the bigger accounts and begin to whittle away at them too. And
by using a smart approach to the credit card debt you have, you take control of
the problem and put it on a program to go away. And that will be the greatest
feeling of them all.

Time to Get Help

Do you ever wonder if there should be a 12 step program for people who have a
problem with credit card debt? The idea might not be as ridiculous as it
sounds. The 12 step program is one of the most successful therapy programs
there is for helping people with addictions. And in a lot of ways, our love of
credit and of buying things using our credit cards amounts to an addiction.

And like people who are suffering with an addiction, many times the biggest
step forward is when you recognize that you have a problem. Too often when
someone has the beginnings of a credit card debt problem, there is a sense of
ambivalence and "just let it go" because after all "everybody does it." And
when you have a problem that threatens to become a huge problem, that is no
time to be lazy and decide to just let it continue because you think everybody
does it.

That attitude of "oh well" is exactly why the credit card companies are making
record profits. If we all would get mad because they are enslaving our family
budgets, we would rise up and throw them off and the world would change
dramatically for us. But we can't fix the world. But you can fix our own world
and start at home, with your own credit card "addiction" and maybe even use
some of the principles of 12 step programs to get started.

Most professionals who work with people needing 12 step programs will tell you
that the biggest obstacle is getting the troubled person to know they are in
trouble. We all live in a bubble where we tell ourselves and each other that
"everything will be all right." 12 step programs use tough love to tell the
people who come there that everything will NOT be all right unless they take
steps to change their addictions because their addictions will destroy their
lives.

Well folks, we might need some tough love when it comes to us not taking action
to fix our credit card debt problem before it destroys our lives. We have to
find a way to get over this idea that we should just endure credit card debt
and get motivated to do the hard work to dig ourselves out before the task
becomes insurmountable. In a lot of ways the problem is pride. We may suspect
we have a credit card debt problem but we don't want to tell someone else we
have one. We are proud and we want others to think we always have it together.

That pride says "just take care of this yourself" and it will keep you from
talking about the problem with your spouse, your family and then even going to
someone like a credit card consolidation company to find out how to get this
problem under control. The big moment when an "addict" becomes a recovering
addict is when he or she recognizes that the problem is there, that it is huge,
that it could destroy their lives and that it is time to seek help.

Maybe that time has come for you. Maybe its time to not let your pride be so
stubborn that you wont turn and seek help from people who know how to help you
get this problem under control. So let this little discussion be your
"intervention" to give you a slap in the face that the faster you let that
pride go and seek some help, the faster the credit card debt problem will go
away and you will be back on a solid financial footing once again. And once you
get this "monkey off your back", you will never want to become enslaved to
credit card debt again.

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.

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.

The Real Numbers On High Schoolers Card Spending

Well, you don't really need to look into the teen credit card debt statistics
to tell what's going on. The teen credit card debt statistics would probably
look very similar to any other. I think I read somewhere about teen credit card
debt statistics and those teen credit card debt statistics indicated that a lot
of teens in US had a significant amount of balance on their credit cards;
something which they shouldn't have (considering their limited needs for
credit). Though these teen credit card debt statistics would give you a fair
idea of how our teens are faring in the world of credit cards it's really not
so important to talk about teen credit card debt statistics as it is to talk
about the ways of bettering the teen credit card debt statistics (I mean
bettering the teen credit card debt statistics in a positive way).

So how do you better teen credit card debt statistics?

Well, the bettering of teen credit card debt statistics would, as you must have
guessed, start with education. This education has to start early in the life of
the teens. Here we are not talking about just credit cards related education
but the education about managing their finances in general.

Teen credit card debt statistics cannot be improved without explaining the
actual value of money to the teens (and also teaching them how to use it). So,
for bettering teen credit card debt statistics, we need to give them an all
round education on managing money and finances. This can start with asking them
to maintain a record of their pocket money and how they spend them. Also, engage
them into education related to money management (of course, you have to
customize the discussion to suit their level of knowledge and maturity).

The next step would be to open a bank account for them and teach them the
various aspects of managing it. Teach them what debt it and when it is
considered bad. Debit card could be the next step for them. Once they start
becoming comfortable with doing their bank transactions by themselves, you can
get a prepaid credit card for them (something that has a preset limit of
$200-250). You could also use a low limit credit card (with $250 credit limit)
and teach them how to use it.

Thus you can follow a step-by-step approach to ensure that your teens learn the
best practices (and hence you can keep them out of those horrifying teen credit
card debt statistics, thereby contributing to bettering the teen credit card
debt statistics).

The Levels Of Moving Toward Being Debt Free

So you have decided to go for credit card debt elimination and are wondering on
what the methods for credit card debt elimination are. As they say, let's take
the bull by its horns and lay it all flat on the ground. There are generally 2
recommendations that are most common for credit card debt elimination:
controlling the expenditures and consolidating debt. Let's check both of these
credit card debt elimination recommendations and check the list of things that
you can do for achieving credit card debt elimination using these
recommendations:

1.  Control your urge to spend: The first thing to do for credit card debt
elimination is to control your expenditures. Here we are talking about the
payments you make using your credit card. Remember that the main reason being
your getting into credit card debt is uncontrolled expenditures using your
credit card. So if you are really serious about credit card debt elimination,
this is one thing that will help in credit card debt elimination by preventing
accumulation of further debt. 

Here is what you can do to control your expenditures: 

a.  You need to stay away from attractive offers that are put-up by various 
shops and stores. Don't buy anything that you don't really-really need. After all 
you are looking for credit card debt elimination not supplementation. 

b.  Leave your credit card at home. If you really-really need something, then you 
can fetch your credit card from your house. This will prevent you from yielding 
to the too-attractive-to-resist sale offers (that are actually there all the year 
round). This credit card debt elimination technique, again, works on the principal 
of 'prevention is better than cure'. This will prevent unplanned expenses from 
happening. 

c.  Prepare a monthly budget and stick to it. This is really a very important 
credit card debt elimination measure. This budget will form the basis of your 
credit card debt elimination plan. So if you deviate from your budget, your credit 
card debt elimination plan will go for a toss.

2.  Debt consolidation: Debt consolidation or moving from high APR credit cards
to a low APR one is generally the first step (the first reactive step) for
credit card debt elimination. Here are a few things that you need to do: a.  Do
not go for the first balance offer you come across. Analyse various offers and
choose the one that best suits you. This will be an important thing on you
credit card debt elimination plan. Initial APR, Initial APR period and standard
Apr, all need to be considered. b.  Read the fine print on the balance transfer
offer and check the terms and conditions on these. These might affect your
overall credit card debt elimination plan. c.  Compare other benefits e.g.
rebates, reward points, etc, before you actually decide to go for one of the
offers.

Credit card debt elimination is about proper planning and discipline. So make
your credit card debt elimination plan and stick to it.

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.

The Basics of Credit Card Debt Consolidation

Credit card debt consolidation is a term that gets thrown around on television
quite a lot. You see so much advertising for this service that you have to know
that someone is making a lot of money off of people like you and me that have
serious credit card debt problems. But once you understand what credit card
consolidation is and how it is accomplished, it is very likely you can
accomplish the same goals and get the same benefits without paying anyone an
excessive fee.

The reasons these services have sprung into existence is that with the economy
being so difficult and with gas prices and prices for so many of life's
necessities going higher and higher, many people are spreading their debt over
many credit cards. The result is an average family might have three or four or
even more credit cards with high debt run up on them and the interest fees
being charged can get quite high.

Despite the customer friendly language credit cards use when they try to lure
you into running up your debt even higher, these credit cards are making credit
card companies a lot of money and they want you to pay them down slowly so they
can continue to charge big fees month to month. So the first of credit card
consolidation is to get all of that debt into one account, get rid of the
credit card debt and perhaps close those accounts entirely and get a reasonable
interest rate you can deal with over time.

So the first core principle or "basic" of credit card consolidation is getting
rid of multiple creditors and getting all of your debt into one account or at
least fewer credit accounts. At the same time its preferable to work with a
creditor who is willing to work with you with the goal of reducing debt so the
interest rate can be set at a level significantly lower than what you were
paying to the credit cards so more of what you pay goes to pay down the debt
and less to interest and fees.

One tactic that is often used to move your debt to lower rate interest loans is
to use zero percent short term offers from credit card companies. Now watch
those because sometimes there are transfer fees that are as high as an interest
payment. But if you can move several thousand dollars to a zero percent loan for
six months, you can then work on paying off higher interest credit cards while
that part of your debt is not running up the balances. But watch out because at
the end of the zero percent period, sometimes the interest rate on that loan
will shoot up higher than any of your other loans.

The important things that you take charge of your credit and not let it be in
charge of you. Start a log or a spreadsheet where you document each credit card
you have, what the interest rate is, the expiration date on short term low
rates, what you credit limits are and what your payments are. This kind of
consolidation of your records will tell you which credit cards need the most
attention and where you should look to consolidate two credit cards into one or
all of them into the one credit source that you feel you can work with long
term. Then you have a partner to help you make a plan to get out of credit card
debt and stay that way.

The benefits from Credit card debt consolodation

'Credit card debt consolodation' seems to be the most talked-about term in the
world of credit cards. It's true that credit cards have been very useful and
convenient for us and we, in fact, treat the credit cards as a necessity.
However, with every good you have evil too. In the world of credit cards,
'Credit card debt' is that evil and 'Credit card debt consolodation' is often
regarded as a medicine for treating credit card debt.

Anyone who has read any newspaper articles on 'Credit card debt' would already
know what credit card debt consolodation is. However, just for the benefit of
others, credit card debt consolodation, in simple terms, is the process of
consolidating debt which you hold on various high APR credit cards onto just
one low APR credit card. Thus, the main benefit of credit card debt
consolodation is realised in terms of APR reduction (and hence reduction in
credit card debt growth rate). This is touted as the most important benefit
(and sometimes the sole benefit) from credit card debt consolodation. However,
credit card debt consolodation comes with few more benefits as well. Some of
these credit card debt consolodation benefits are widely publicised by the
credit card suppliers and some not so much:

1.  Initial APR: As mentioned above, lower APR is the biggest benefit from
credit card debt consolodation. Since credit card debt consolodation is used by
credit card suppliers as a tool to attract consumers, they generally offer a 0%
APR for a initial period of 6-9 months of you joining their credit card debt
consolodation programme i.e. first few months after you get the new credit card.

2.  Standard APR: Lower standard APR (i.e. the long term APR) is the other
important benefit from credit card debt consolodation. Though not all credit
card suppliers offer a lower standard APR with credit card debt consolodation
some do design credit card debt consolodation programmes with good standard
APR. These credit card debt consolodation programmes offer a trade-off between
initial and standard APR rates.

3.  0% on purchases: This is another common benefit from credit card debt
consolodation. The 0% interest (or some lower percentage) on purchases is
offered as an incentive for credit card debt consolodation. This credit card
debt consolodation benefit is again applicable only for a short initial period.

4.  Easy management: This credit card debt consolodation benefit is not as
discussed as others. However, one benefit of credit card debt consolodation
(from multiple to single credit card) is the fact that you need to track and
manage a lesser number of credit cards.

5.  Other benefits: The credit card debt consolodation exercise might bring you
some more benefits in terms of rebates, discounts and reward points (especially
if you move to a co-branded card as part of credit card debt consolodation)

Teen credit card debt statistics What do the teen credit card debt statistics
tell?

Well, you don't really need to look into the teen credit card debt statistics
to tell what's going on. The teen credit card debt statistics would probably
look very similar to any other. I think I read somewhere about teen credit card
debt statistics and those teen credit card debt statistics indicated that a lot
of teens in US had a significant amount of balance on their credit cards;
something which they shouldn't have (considering their limited needs for
credit). Though these teen credit card debt statistics would give you a fair
idea of how our teens are faring in the world of credit cards it's really not
so important to talk about teen credit card debt statistics as it is to talk
about the ways of bettering the teen credit card debt statistics (I mean
bettering the teen credit card debt statistics in a positive way).

So how do you better teen credit card debt statistics?

Well, the bettering of teen credit card debt statistics would, as you must have
guessed, start with education. This education has to start early in the life of
the teens. Here we are not talking about just credit cards related education
but the education about managing their finances in general. Teen credit card
debt statistics cannot be improved without explaining the actual value of money
to the teens (and also teaching them how to use it). So, for bettering teen
credit card debt statistics, we need to give them an all round education on
managing money and finances. This can start with asking them to maintain a
record of their pocket money and how they spend them. Also, engage them into
education related to money management (of course, you have to customize the
discussion to suit their level of knowledge and maturity). The next step would
be to open a bank account for them and teach them the various aspects of
managing it. Teach them what debt it and when it is considered bad. Debit card
could be the next step for them. Once they start becoming comfortable with
doing their bank transactions by themselves, you can get a prepaid credit card
for them (something that has a preset limit of $200-250). You could also use a
low limit credit card (with $250 credit limit) and teach them how to use it.

Thus you can follow a step-by-step approach to ensure that your teens learn the
best practices (and hence you can keep them out of those horrifying teen credit
card debt statistics, thereby contributing to bettering the teen credit card
debt statistics).

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.

You Have Debt Options When Over Your Head

Well, the answer will more often be yes than no. Consolidating credit card debt
is often regarded as the first step towards credit card debt elimination.
However, even before you move to take first step towards consolidating credit
card debt, you must understand that consolidating credit card debt (or balance
transfer) is an action that you are taking to eliminate credit card debt.
Consolidating credit card debt is not a means of deferring the problem for
later.

Consolidating credit card debt is indeed a good option in more than one sense.
Not only do you get relief from the rapid increase in your credit card debt,
but also get other benefits too. Offers for consolidating credit card debt are
in abundance and are very attractive indeed.

Almost all the offers for consolidating credit card debt have an initial low
APR period during which the APR is generally 0% (or some low figure). In fact,
this is one of the main things which make consolidating credit card debt a very
attractive option. Besides this low APR, the offers for consolidating credit
card debt also include things like no interest rate on the purchases made
during first 5 months (or some other initial period) of balance transfer. This
is another thing that lowers the speed at which your credit card debt gallops.

So these are the two most important benefits that credit card suppliers deploy
to attract people into consolidating credit card debt with them. Then there are
other benefits which include things like additional reward points on the
member's reward program of the credit card you are consolidating credit card
debt to. These reward points can be redeemed for other attractive
goods/rebates/rewards etc.

Sometimes, the new credit card (i.e. the one you are consolidating credit card
debt to) might be a credit card that caters more to your current spending needs
both in terms of the credit limits and the way you spend your money.

For example, the new credit card might be a co-branded one offered by an
airline that you have started travelling with very frequently in the recent
times and consolidating credit card debt on such a card may open up much more
benefits as compared to your current credit card which was based on your needs
at the time of you applying for your current credit card. The credit card you
are consolidating credit card debt to might open up discount offers to you.

Working With Your Credit Score

When you see advertisement after advertisement on television of businesses who
want you to find out your "free" credit score, that is a red flag that someone
is looking to make some money off of you. The funny thing is they are not lying
to you but at the same time, you are exactly right that those companies paying
good money for television advertising are looking to make a buck off of you.

The truth is, you can actually find out what your credit report says about you.
What they are telling you about that is true. Your credit report tells you your
credit score which helps you understand how creditors see you which is
important if you go to get a new loan. But your credit report also shows a
detailed history of your past use of credit, currently open accounts and anyone
who has checked your credit score in the last year.

This is important information for you because anyone can check your credit
report anytime they want to. And if there are too many inquiries on your credit
report, that itself can drive down your score. So if you find someone is
checking your score too often, you can take action to put a stop to it.

But there are a couple things they are not telling you on those advertisements.
One is that if you use their services, they will give you the credit report for
free but not the credit score. They are going to have their hand out for that
little tidbit of information. But the truth that those companies will not tell
you is that you can get that score at least once a year absolutely free if you
know how. In other words, those people hitting you up on television to check
your credit score are relying on the fact that (1) you don't know how to check
it yourself and (2) you are willing to give them money for something you can
get for free if you know how.

The basic information you should know about credit reports is that there are
three agencies that maintain credit reporting and they are named Equifax,
Experian and Transunion. You can check on what each of these companies has in
their file at any given time. In addition to a lot of detail about your credit
history as we just discussed, your credit "health" will be represented in the
form of a number of a "score". That score will run between 300 and 850. The
higher your credit score, the better you will be received by credit
organizations who are deciding whether to extend you a loan.

Once you have this information, you can take action to improve how you stand on
your credit history. First of all, review the credit detail in depth. You may
find accounts still open that you have not used for years. Close those
accounts. If you have a credit account that is not being used, it is of not
value to you, it only runs down your credit score and there is always a danger
someone will use it.

But the next step is to start being "credit smart" in how you use credit to
help see that credit score go up over the next year. The steps to do that are:

* Always pay your bills on time. Late payments are reported to the credit
  bureaus and it runs your score down. 

* Make more than the minimum payments. If you only pay the minimum on each 
  credit card you owe, that will get noticed by the credit tracking software and 
  make your credit score go down. 

* Cut down on the amount of times your credit score is checked. Excessive 
  inquiries into your score indicate that you are looking at getting more credit 
  and that hurts your score. 

* Close unneeded credit accounts. 

* Start closing some of your credit card accounts once you pay them off. 

* Don't take out any new accounts.

Don't let yourself get excited by the virtual nonstop advertising about your
credit history. You do not need to know this information every day. But check
it a couple times a year, no sooner than once every three months to keep tabs
on what is going on with your credit history. It's the responsible thing to do
and you can just change the channel on those noisy commercials too.

  InfoBank Intro | Main Page | Usenet Forums | Search The RockSite/The Web