So many people find themselves in a situation where they can’t keep up with their credit card payments. It can happen to anyone, especially when you are young and new to the world of credit cards. Let's look at ways on how to manage your credit card debt better.
Follow these steps for a better debt management
1. Know exactly how much you owe on your credit cards.Some people don't even look at their bills, just because they feel intimidated and lost at the same time. This is not a strategy; it is just defensive behaviour. Look at all the outstanding balances you have and see how much they add up to.
2. Make a budget and add up all the minimum payments that you need to make. By doing this, you will know the exact minimum you need per month to keep up with all your commitments.
3. Calculate your take home pay. Consider ways to improve your income such as taking on a second job or working overtime.
4. Make additional payments on your credit cards with any saved money. Savings and bonus monies received should go towards your credit card payments. It is a good idea to make minimum payments on all your credit cards, and then make additional payments on the credit card with the highest interest. Focus on paying out the highest interest credit card first, and then slowly make your way through other credit cards one by one.
5. Call your bank to see if you could switch to a lower-interest credit card. Banks often have promotions where they offer you a credit card with 0% interest for transferred balances for a certain period of time. If you get one of those, transfer the balances to these cards. Make sure you do not use this new card for purchases, because the standard rate would apply to the new amount.
6. Make sure you cut the credit cards you paid off with the new one; otherwise, you may find yourself sinking in more debts than before!
What to do when you just cannot keep up with your credit cards payments?
You might consider a consolidation loan keeping in mind there are no guarantees that a lender would necessarily be willing to give you a consolidation loan. How it works is that the amount of money you get as a loan is enough for you to pay out all your credit card debt.
As a result, you get to deal with one loan payment, which should be lower than all the monthly credit card minimum payments added up. Your debt burden becomes more manageable, although it might take you several years to pay off your consolidation loan, again, depending on how much credit card debt you currently have.
Reducing the payment that you need to come up with monthly is your main object. Another option is to search for additional income. It may be easier said than done, but if you could find a part-time job that will help you to pay off your credit cards faster, definitely go for it! With some additional money earned, you could find yourself in a much better financial situation.
Following these simple steps should help you to pay off your credit card debts faster. You may realize that you want to continue with some of these strategies even after you paid off your credit cards, so you have some money to put aside.
Saving some money is actually not as boring as it sounds once you get to experience the joy of reaching your savings goal. For example, you may decide that you want to save money to buy a new laptop instead of borrowing for this purpose. Once you’re debt free you can start planning and building towards a brighter future.