Down Trodden: How To Pay Off Credit Card Debt Faster

Nothing plagues your credit score or how you’re viewed by lenders more so than mounds and mounds of debt. Some argue that the debt itself isn’t what is killing your chances of getting a loan or being viewed as more of a quality borrower than a liability, but rather how close the debt is to the credit limit or your debt to income ratio. But what most forget is that all of those calculations boil down to how much debt you’re carrying in the former and what that monthly credit payment is for the latter. No matter how you slice it or what perspective you take, the argument for paying down debt quickly isn’t one that you can rally around as far as not wanting to do it. How exactly can you pay down your debt faster? Well, first, if you can only afford the minimum payment, make sure that is precisely what gets paid. Nothing kills credit like being late on a payment. If cash is the issue and you’re not having an abundance of it, why not look into earning extra money with a late-season garage sale or taking on a second job, perhaps something you can do from home. The real central piece and focal point, however, needs to be your budget and mostly having one and thus following it. If you don’t know expenses versus what your income is monthly, you’ll never get past that minimum payment. You also need to pay closer attention to interest rates, and that view is two fold: pay more than the minimum payment on the cards that have the worst interest rate and save the minimum payments for the cards with low or no interest for now. And if you don’t have a low-interest rate on any of your loans or cards, find one. And that doesn’t mean opening up a new card but rather calling credit card companies to see about a lower rate. Balance transfers aren’t always the answer and typically only work if you’re only transferring and that is it. Opening new credit cards, adding debt means that new card isn’t about hitting Amazon.com hard for purchases but instead getting your current debt on a card that is low for at least the introductory period as long as the rate after is reasonable. Yes, a 10 to 12 percent rate after the 0% intro is better than paying Macy 30% interest on a suit jacket. What you want to avoid is opening one card after another and juggling balances between cards forever but instead focusing on one debt at a time, and paying double the minimum for maximum results.

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