The Fastest Way To Eliminate Credit Card Debt

“Change begets change”
- Charles Dickens

There is one sure fire way that is guaranteed to get you out of debt.

STOP CHARGING!

Simple as that may be, if you just stop charging now, you still may have debt obligations that you need to take care of. So what would be the best way to achieve the goal of eliminating this debt.

There are many strategies that you can employ to get you out of debt but there are several things that you nust do first to lay the groundwork for becoming debt free. It all starts with you.
Excessive credit card debt is a growing sickness in America, and like many illnesses, people tend to ignore the problem until it's of epidemic proportions. Take control now and eliminate credit card debt before it threatens your financial health.

You must change the way you think about money, credit and debt. You must change the way you act and feel.

You must change.

PERIOD.

To eliminate credit card debt as rapidly as possible at the lowest possible cost to you, I recommend using a tried-and-true credit card debt elimination method often recommended by financial experts. I call this method the Credit Crunch.

1. List all of your credit cards, including the balance, the interest rate, and the minimum payment percentage and the minimum payment according to the latest statement. The minimum payment percentage can be found in the small print on your credit card statement or your cardholder agreement, and is usually between 2 and 2 1/2 percent of your balance.

2. Rearrange the list so the credit card with the highest interest rate is at the top and the credit card with the lowest interest rate is at the bottom.

3. Add up the required minimum payments for all the cards.

4. Decide how much money you can come up with each month, in addition to the total minimum payments on all your credit cards, to apply to your credit card debt. If you don't believe you can afford to pay any additional amounts over the minimum payment, it's time to do a budget and find ways to cut your expenses

5. Each month, pay the minimum balance on each credit card except the one with the highest interest rate. On the credit card with the highest interest rate, pay the minimum balance PLUS the additional amount you've identified to reduce your credit card debt each month.

6. Continue to do this until the first credit card (the one with the highest interest rate) is paid off entirely. Then take the amount you were paying on that credit card (which is now paid off) plus the amount of the minimum balance on the second credit card, and apply the total to the second credit card each month until the balance is paid off, continuing to pay the minimum balance on all the other credit cards.

7. Continue crunching your payments on the credit card with the highest interest rate as described above, until all credit card debts are paid off.
Some financial experts recommend paying off the credit cards with the lowest balances first, rather than working on those with the highest interest rate. I disagree with that approach because although it might make you feel better to see the number of credit cards with balances decline, that good feeling will cost you money.

Balances with higher interest rates accumulate interest costs more quickly, meaning you pay more to the credit card company in interest and less in actually paying down the principal amount that you owe.