\nReducing your credit card debt can save you a lot of money in interest \npaid over the life of the debt and it can improve your credit score. \nIt’s important to keep a close eye on the total debt held on our credit \ncards. Reducing your credit card debt comes down to two very simple \nthings that must be done together in order to reduce the overall credit \ncard debt.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe first thing that must be done to reduce credit card debt is to \nincrease the amount of money paid towards the balance of that credit \ncard. If you owe a total of $4000 on your credit cards, increasing your \nmonthly payment by just $200 spread over the total number of credit \ncards you have may help to reduce overall credit card debt. \nAlternatively, you could pay off the highest interest card first by \nadding that $200 a month to it while paying the same amount on the other\n cards, to efficiently reduce the amount of money spent in interest \nwhile effectively reducing your credit card debt. Additionally, if you \ncan, add more money to the amount paid from time to time, from one-time \nincreases in your monthly income. If your grandma sent you $50 for your \nbirthday, put half of it on your credit card bill. If you sold your old \ntiller on Ebay, put all of the net proceeds on the credit card bill. \nAdding money to the bill from unexpected sources of cash will help to \nreduce your overall balance and total credit card debt faster.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nIf you can’t find extra money to pay off your credit card debt faster, \nit may be time to liquidate some resources. One of the quickest ways to \nraise cash in the summer time is to have a yard sale. An easy way to \nknow what should be sold is to ask which items have I not used in the \npast 12 months. If you haven’t used it in a year, you can sell it and \nnot miss it for the most part. Another way is to ask which items do I \nhate, but I keep in order to keep other people happy. That ugly sweater \ngrandma bought you two years ago that you wore once sell it. The knick \nknack your mom gave you from her vacation in Cancun, sell it. That \nguitar you swore you were going to learn how to play in high school, but\n you still haven’t learned to play, sell it. These are items clogging \nyour space, collecting dust, and keeping you from your financial \nfreedom. Use the net sales from the yard sale to pay down a little extra\n on your credit card debt. If having a yard sale doesn’t garner enough o\n make a large dent in your credit card bill, try selling many of your \nold items on Ebay. Use all of the net proceeds towards reducing your \ntotal credit card debt.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nIf selling off your possessions doesn’t work, it might be time to look \ninto a second or third part-time job. Finding work is difficult in \ntoday’s economy, but it is a quick way to ensure you have a regular \npayment for your credit card coming in. If you can’t find work, \nfreelancing on the internet may be a way to pull in an extra hundred or \ntwo hundred dollars for your credit card payment. Do you like to take \nphotographs? There are ways to monetize your favorite hobby and make \nsome money out of it. Whatever you decide to do, paying more towards \nyour credit card is the goal.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nHowever, just paying more money to the credit card isn’t good enough, fi\n you keep using it! The second part of reducing your credit card debt is\n to stop using your credit cards for a while. How long depends on how \nmuch you owe on your credit cards and the percent of your total credit \nline that is owed. If you owe over 20% of your total credit line, you \nshould be in emergency mode trying to pay off your credit card debt. How\n do you know how much you owe as a percent of your total credit line? \nAdd up all of your credit limits, then add all your total balances. \nDivide you total balances by your total credit limit. This will give you\n a decimal. Then move the decimal two places to the left and you will \nsee how much percent of total credit limit is used. If that number is \nover 20% or .20, you need to pay down those credit cards as fast as you \npossibly can.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nHow can you keep from using your credit cards though? If you have \nautomatic payments withdrawn from your cards, stop them and have them \nwithdrawn from your bank accounts. It is cheaper to have automatic \ndrafts from your bank account and most businesses offer this service \nnow. If you use them for groceries, household items, and gas, stop and \nmake a household budget for these items so that you don’t need credit to\n pay for day to day items. Sometimes, it seems harmless to get an extra \n$50 in food for our family or $30 in the gas tank on you credit card, \nbut it all adds up at the end of the month when you get your new \nstatement. If you use your credit cards on impulse to splurge on things \nwhen shopping with friends, leave them at home when you go out for fun. \nIf you find yourself having trouble leaving them at home put them on \nice. In fact, put them in a cup of water and literally freeze your \ncredit cards so you cannot use them on impulse.. If you really want to \nuse them after they thaw out completely, then go ahead. If you use your \ncredit cards for little extras that you would never pay cash for, limit \nyourself to paying only cash for those little extras you indulge in from\n time to time.\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reducing your credit card debt can save you a lot of money in interest paid over the life of the debt and it can improve your credit score. It’s important to keep a close eye on the total debt held on our credit cards. Reducing your credit card debt comes down to two very simple […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsmcredit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsmcredit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsmcredit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsmcredit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsmcredit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/dsmcredit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsmcredit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsmcredit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsmcredit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsmcredit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}