16 Strategies You Can Use Today to Pay Off Your Credit Cards
Want to eliminate what you owe? Imagine living and working without all your hard earned cash going to credit card payments each and every month with little progress to show for it. Crushing high interest balances can suck all the joy and possibilities your life is supposed to have as you toil endlessly only to watch your money disappear month after month.
Pulling your hair out in frustration, if you find yourself desperately asking: How can I pay off my credit card debt?
You have come to the right place.
First, some background. Your cards are just another form of loan, essentially a pre-approved revolving credit. They can be life savers in emergencies, but when you find yourself overwhelmed by even the minimum payments, how can you pay them off?
The following are our best recommendations to answer this question. These strategies have been selected and updated based on their being proven, effective, and easy to implement.
If you have a bad credit history, no problem, the financial strategies below have been selected based on their ease of approval, and are listed because you can take action right away to eliminate your balances.
Additionally, the recommendations below include some of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sanctioned tips for credit card debt reduction.
16 Ways To Pay Off Your Credit Cards Fast
No 1. Make Cash Payments
Cash payments will help you keep track of all your monthly expenses as well as keep them within reasonable limits. One sure way of getting out a serious debt crisis is to keep all your expenses organized. The key to personal finance success is keeping it simple, spend less than you earn. Progress, no matter how small is progress.
No 2. Deal With Outstanding Fees and Obligations
Come up with a personal pledge and always stick to it no matter how tempted you are to break the pledge. Manage, meet and avoid unnecessary fees, and penalties across the range of your finances, not just your charge cards. Eliminate unnecessary expenses from your life. Use the savings to pay off debt.
No 3. Seek Additional Sources Of Income
"The most powerful method of reducing what you owe is to grow what you earn..."
Look for other sources of income like the launching of small online business that does not require much to start. A blog would be a nice way to use leisure time profitably. According to the FTC, Americans who have several streams of income are able to pay off what they owe faster. Seek to leverage every effort, every moment in your life towards meeting your goals.
No 4. Engage In Long Term Financial Planning
Focusing on where you want to be tomorrow plays a big role in prudent financial planning. Map out the costs of your cards, calculate time to pay off credit card balances, and stick to your plan. Set a debt management plan and take action immediately. Follow a simple debt payment strategy and stick to it. Harness your focus like a laser on your goal of debt freedom.
No 5. Think Of Money in Terms of Time Value
It is amazing how your perspective on spending will change when you begin to look at the time value of your earnings. Ask yourself what is your time worth. Are you making minimum wage? Are you earning more? Can you earn faster? What is the potential value of your time worth? If you can earn $15 an hour, think of your dining out for two as a cost of time, it will cost you into 3-5 hours of time debt to pay for it. Each expense should be an investment into freeing up more of your time to earn more quickly.
No 6. Don't Compete With Your Neighbors
"The only true race is with yourself of yesterday..."
We all to a degree at one point or another get caught up in the competition of live and looking outside ourselves to compare how we are doing. Unfortunately, this can lead to financial disaster. Trying to keep up with the Joneses as the saying goes, just leads to making poor financial choices. Create a plan unique to your situation, and take action. Stop trying to keep up with the neighbors.
No 7. Yard Sales
"We are all surrounded by hidden value..."
Yard sales are a great way to get rid of unnecessary items in the house as well as raise extra money to help pay other household bills. The money raised from the yard sale can be used to buy stuff that you might need instead of increasing your visa balances. A yard sale can help stop excessive spending, is fun, and can help you squeeze the value out of a number of unused purchases made over the years.
No 8. Use Available Software To Reduce Your Credit Card Debt
The statistics show that focusing, tracking, and managing your personal finances leads to much lower debt levels in households. The software available these days to help you control and visualize your cash flow is incredible. Online resources like Mint.com can automatically sync with your mastercard accounts, visa cards, and banking to help you keep track of all your expsenses and income as well as help you budget. Take advantage of the help available to you.
No 9. Associate With People Who Are A Positive Influence In Your Life
If you don't have any people who are a positive influence financially, you can watch TV shows that showcase people who have managed to overcome serious financial challenges. In this way, you will be able to gain constructive tips that will come in handy in your efforts to get out of debt. Magazines, books and blogs that reference to prudent personal financial management also present useful insights into career success, entrepreneurship and job skills.
Finance is a learned skill, you can learn it too, study from the masters that have already blazed the trail for you to follow.
No 11. Become a Frugality Expert: Stop All Unnecessary Spending
Eliminating your credit cards from your life can be hard. Paying off a mountain of debt can seem impossible. Making frugal choices may not come naturally.It requires sacrafice that noone wants to make. Living a spartan lifestyle in order to meet your goals may be tough in the short term, but it may be just the ticket you need to payoff what you owe and get back on sound financial footing. Additionally you may develop the habit, making frugality a painless part of your character. Then you are off to the wealth building races.
No 12. Pay More Than The Minimum Payment
"Don't fall for the slow death of endless minimum payments..."
Any raise in your income should be channeled towards your debt elimination efforts. Resist any attempt to make further purchases as they will only compound your financial problems. Hard work, extra hours, developing new revenue streams should be used to pay more than your minimum payments for your cards. You are well aware by now that paying the minimum makes little to no headway towards paying down what you owe. The additional payments however typically apply 100% towards your principle balance.
No 13. Reflect On How You Got In Debt
Know how you got into the financial mess you face. Sear in the memory and vow never to rely on revolving credit for your survival. Visualize the benefits of eliminating your balances, think about how good it will feel to not have the threat of financial disaster hanging over your head from week to week. Funnel these energies into taking the actions necessary to meet your goal.
No 14. Debt Consolidation
"Imagine eliminating half of what you owe each month overnight..."
This is a hassle free strategy to help you pay off unsecured debt. The high interest balances are transferred to a loan with lower costs, longer repayment terms, and much lower monthly payments. You can eliminate your credit card debt fast, by using your savings to pay down balances.
No 15. Debt Settlement
Debt settlement is an alternative to bankruptcy if you have tried everything but do not have the means to make progress towards paying off your balances. You can negotiate a settlement, allowing you to pay a lump some smaller than what you owe now rather than walking away on your repayment obligations altogether. Your credit counselor can negotiate on your behalf with your creditors, but you will need to have been in full default for a number of months for the card issuer to take the threat seriously and consider settling in most cases. Caution: Severe implications for your credit score.
No 16. Personal Loans
Personal lending is easy to get approved, offers fast hassle free money and can be more flexible than traditional financing. In as little as 10 minutes you can get an approval online from a personal lender and can apply your cash loan to consolidate your credit cards, you can use the money to reduce what you owe and get out from under the crushing interest costs of your cards.
Hopefully, now you know 16 powerful ways you can use to pay off your credit cards faster. With these actionable, time-tested strategies you can roll up your sleeves, take action and get rid of those high balances, starting now.
"Imagine being free of ALL your debt - no more being bled dry by your monthly payments..."
