How to Reduce Credit Card Debt by Paying the Highest Balance Card First

By Adam Tijerina

You can read a dozen books on how to get out of debt and find a dozen different ways to do it. The authors all have good intentions and want to see you out of debt as soon as possible. Today, I wanted to talk to you about how you can reduce your credit card debt by paying the highest balance card first.

With the highest balance method, you write down all your debts and put them in descending order from highest to lowest. You make minimum payments to every card except the highest balance one. With this one, you apply all available monies to this card until it is paid off. You do not worry about what the interest rates are on your cards with this method.

Then after the first card is paid off you take the next highest balance and apply all your payments to this one until it is paid off and keep making minimum payments on all other cards. You keep doing this until all your debts are paid off and you are debt free.

With this method, it will take you a while to see progress. It will take a lot of financial discipline to stick with this method. Because the rewards you gain will take longer to receive. But when you are able to knock out one credit card, that will be a significant portion of your total debt.

You can accelerate your progress by taking on a second job or doing freelance work from home to increase your income seeking more money to get rid of debt. There are plenty of free resources available to help you get started making money online with a low investment.

With the highest balance card first method, you can reduce your credit card debts in big chunks but it does take a while to see progress. If you have the financial discipline to stick to your plan and then you may want to try this debt elimination plan.

To learn how you can reduce your debt [http://www.howtoreducecreditcarddebt.com/] even faster visit [http://www.howtoreducecreditcarddebt.com/] today. You'll learn about the best methods to eliminate all your debt in as little as 2 years. Find out what to do if you are having trouble paying your bills on time.

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How to Become Credit Card Debt-Free

By Maggie Gee

If you are determined to get out of credit card debt, you surely can. Though it's a bit difficult, it's certainly not impossible. All you need,  is determination and planning. In essence you need to reduce your card debt and eliminate it before it assumes a horrifying shape. This is really the gist of the story.

So, how do you reduce card debt? Well, you reduce it by preventing it from increasing, and by paying off what it you currently owe. But can it be as simple as that? Not really. If it was that simple to reduce, then we wouldn't have had so many people with credit card debt related problems.

There is plenty of advice available on how to reduce credit card debt, but still nothing much seems to change. The problem still seems to persist or if anything, worsen. However, it need not be that difficult to reduce. You just need to take action and put that advice into practice in real life. After all, you are the one who will benefit if you do succeed in reducing your debt.

So now ask yourself:

· What will I have if I am able to get out of card debt?

· What difference will it make?

· Is it really beneficial to get out of debt?

Use the answers to build your determination. The fact that all the nagging via mail/phone (by the credit card supplier and/or their collection agent) will be gone, should go a very long way to strengthening your determination and resolve. This surely is the perfect reason why you should endeavour to get out of debt.

Think about the stress-free life once you are debt-free. Try to link various reasons together and see the benefits through them. Collectively these benefits will help in bolstering your willpower and prevent it from getting weak at any point in time.

Begin by 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. So the first step to reduce your debt is to prevent it from taking dangerous proportions.

The two most important ways of implementing this step are: balance transfers and use of cash.

1. Balance transfer is really an effective way to reduce credit card debt, by slowing down the pace at which your debt is getting built up. It also provides you relief in terms of the APR being 0% for initial 6-9 months (and hence helps reduce 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. Thus you are preventing it from increasing so rapidly.

2. Whenever possible pay with cash instead of using your card. You will therefore be helping yourself by not adding to the debt. This must be the simplest method of reducing the balance on your cards.

Essentially you need make a few simple changes in your life:

· Control your urge to spend. Unfortunately this is a must. Stay away from shops with offers you simply cannot ignore.

· Leave your credit card at home.

· Prepare a monthly budget, and stick to it.

In the end success or failure will, however, be down to you. You are the only one who can actually reduce your card debt, so you need to keep your determination strong. This article may be copied and distributed, so long as the signature file and active links are also included.

Maggie Gee is a UK based Internet marketer, offering help for the real beginner. She is specialising in helping Newbies or Beginners in getting going with their own Internet Marketing business. Article writing is also a favourite. If you found the above article useful, please visit http://www.maggie-recommends.com where you will find unlimited help for the beginner. You will find Maggie's Blog at: http://www.maggie-recommends.com/blog

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Tips For Reducing Credit Card Debt - The First Step to Being Debt Free

By Marjorie Salada

Reducing credit card debt and then eliminating it is the only way that you are going to be debt free. It starts with admitting that things need to be different and then looking for a plan that will get you out of debt and sticking with the plan until it is complete.

Reducing your debt begins with stopping the charging. This will at least keep it from increasing. The fastest way that you can reduce your debt is to reduce your APR. This alone can save you thousands of dollars as you repay your debt. The easiest way to get an interest rate reduction is to call your credit card companies and ask them to reduce your interest rates. If you have been making your payments on time, they will normally lower your interest rate once a year.

Another way of getting an APR reduction is by transferring your balances to a low interest rate or 0 percent interest rate card. This will save a lot of money, but now you will have available credit on the card that you paid off. For many, it is tempting to charge on this account and many people do and this presents an even bigger problem.

Credit counseling also offers substantial interest rate reductions on your accounts. Debt counseling is a nonprofit organization that consolidates your debt without a loan. You will make one payment each month to this organization and they will disburse it to your lenders. The APR reduction and the methods the debt management company uses to repay your debt will have you debt free in about five years.

Reducing credit card debt will help you, but your ultimate goal should be to pay off your credit card debt and be debt free.

Debt can be very scary and sometimes it just takes being shown the right direction to get you on the path to debt freedom. Reducing credit card debt [http://xsdebtelimination.com/] is the first step to getting out of debt. Find out how you can get out of debt in five years by reducing credit card debt [http://debt-settlement-today.com/how-to-pay-off-credit-card-debt].

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Reducing Credit Card Debt With a Debt Snowball

By David Kimball

If you are interested in reducing credit card debt, know that there are no instant solutions, no matter what the slick salesman says. If you are in a situation where it is causing you fits, remember that you did not get where you are overnight. Nor will the problem go away as quickly. But it will go away. And the best way to do it is with a debt snowball.

The Illusion

Be careful. Do not fall for come-ons telling you that you can lower your payments overnight. Oh yeah, in a lot of cases you can lower your payments almost immediately, but that is only by raising your overall debt.

It is how debt consolidation loans work. And is usually an illusion to really living debt free. The loan provider, many times a third party to a debt counseling service, provides you with a loan that lowers your monthly payments. You may reason that by doing this they are saving you money, when they are actually costing you more. In order to lower your monthly payments they are combining your debt. Maybe you have three credit cards they combine or a couple of credit cards and a car loan. They combine this debt together and give you a consolidation loan that costs less per month than the total of the combined bills. They are able to do this by extending the term of the debt. You pay less per month, but over a longer period of time. Therefore, these types of debt consolidation loans cost more in the long-term in extended payments and interest.

The Real Way

The real way to reduce your credit card debt is to pay it down with what is called a debt snowball. Do not fall for any other credit card debt solutions. If you are only making minimum payments, you will practically never get financially free. Even paying a little more on your credit cards each month will help you in a big way.

It is not a stretch to find $10 a month out there somewhere that you are spending on non-essential items. Take that $10 a month and add it to your payment each month on the card with the smallest minimum. You will be surprised how fast you can pay off a credit card this way with a debt snowball. It will not be overnight, but once done you never have to worry about it again -- unlike a debt consolidation loan.

Now that you have paid off that first credit card, take the monthly payment from it and add it to your next largest card. If your first card was costing you $20 a month minimum, and you added $10 a month to that, you now take that entire $30 a month and apply it to your second credit card. You will probably pay this one off even faster than the first. Now, you are drastically reducing credit card debt with the goal of complete elimination. What a great feeling!

You Have Made That First Step - This is just one step on the way to your goal of living debt free. Spend less than you make and live on a personal budget to round your plan. This simple feat of using a debt snowball is key to permanently reducing credit card debt and, eventually, how to live a financially free life. Take the next step now and make a household budget. David Kimball is an author and speaker providing financial coaching to help you get out of debt in 24 months or less.

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Credit Card Debt Solutions - The Debt Snowball

By James Ashford

The debt snowball is one of the most effective credit card debt solutions, and a very effective way to finally pay off debt. Believe me, you really can do this, no matter how much you owe.

First of all, before you even begin, you need to realize that your debts are not going to disappear overnight. You didn't accumulate them all in a day and you're not going to pay them off in a day either. You also need to accept the fact that if you are going to overcome your credit card debt, you will have to stop using your cards.

Now, you need to figure out how much you can possible spend on your debts each month. Look for ways to minimize your monthly spending on luxuries and non-essential items so you can apply that money to your credit card bills. Be sure to have a small emergency fund that you can fall back on if something comes up, like a car repair or a leaky roof, etc. That way you don't have to put that expense on credit.

Now you are ready to start the debt snowball. Make a list of all of your debts, large and small. Sort the list in order of lowest balance first, down to highest balance last. Hopefully the last item on your list will be your mortgage.

From here you start to put all of your available money toward your smallest debt, while still making the minimum payments on all of the others. Once you pay the smallest one off, take all of the money you were putting on the smallest debt and add it to the monthly payment that you were making on the second smallest one. Continue with this method all the way down your list until all of them are paid.

Some people suggest starting with the highest interest debts first so you can save on interest. This makes sense, but you will have a much greater sense of achievement by eliminating each debt quickly, rather than just saving a couple of dollars on interest. Imagine how good you will feel each time you cross a debt off your list!

Once you experience the exhilaration of paying off those first few debts, you will be hooked! That is what is meant by the debt snowball effect - once you get it started it just keeps rolling and growing under its own momentum. The debt snowball method really is the most effective credit card debt solutions you can use.

There are a few cases that this method may not work for. Perhaps you simply have too much debt to handle on your own. Maybe your income is actually less than your credit card monthly payments. Maybe it is just too overwhelming for you to even attempt. In cases like these, there is still hope for credit card relief. You may need to work with a debt reduction or debt consolidation company. These companies will work with you to find a credit card debt solution for you.

If you need help with your credit card debts, you can get a free consultation from Debt Consolidation Headquarters [http://ELIMINATECREDITCARDDEBTNOW.INFO]. You could be debt-free in 12-36 months, and they may even be able to reduce what you owe by up to 50%.

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