According to a poll from usnews.com, 70% of American consumers are in debt. The question is, are you one of them?
Many consumers are now deep in debt, with not just one credit card, but with multiple credit lines. The sheer weight of it all are getting debt ridden credit card holders seeing doom as they struggle to keep up with monthly minimum payments. If you’re feeling hopeless about your debt, there’s still a way out of it.
The fastest way out of multiple credit card debt is by setting up a system. Call it whatever you like, but this system definitely works for everyone. Here’s what you need to do:
1. Set aside a certain amount of money to pay off the minimum balance of each credit card debt. If you can set aside more, then that would be better.
2. Check each debt you have and write down the amount due, and the minimum amount required.
3. Once you have your list, go through each one and calculate the loan that has the least Debt Cash Strain Factor (DF).
4. You can calculate the DF by dividing loan balance over the minimum payment (Loan balance / minimum payment)
5. The debt that has the lowest number is the one you should pay off first. Let’s call it “Debt #1”.
6. Pool all of the money you have set aside for the minimum payments of your credit card debts and pay it all to debt #1. Don’t worry about not paying your other credit card debts, you will get back to them sooner than you think.
7. Since you have paid off more of debt #1, this will make your monthly interest payments lower and you will quickly be able to pay it all off.
8. After paying off debt #1 completely, use the same amount of money (or more) you set aside every month to pay off debt #2.
9. Repeat the process until you pay off all of your debts.
Paying off only the minimum balance will take you forever to get rid of that debt. This is because you’re only paying the interest and not putting anything in the principal. With this system, you’ll be paying off the principal with each loan you decide to pay off first, ridding you of the loan burden one by one.
And if you’re really deep into financial trouble and you’re not able to shell out the money needed for minimum payments, that’s the time when you need to make significant lifestyle changes such as cutting down on expenses.
One thing to remember with ridding yourself of debt is to set up a system, and forget about it. Leaving your mind open to positive influences and a money generating mindset.
