5 Ways to Crush Your Credit Card Debt

Reader Comments
Back to blog

Set a limit of spending mine is $150 - $200 for groceries , train commute , gas ,
few dollars left save it for later weeks .Your bill arrives you must pay in full
and you wont pay any intrest.The tricki part is use your second credit card
to shop for the other two weeks and by the end of the month you pay it off
in full the first credit card and the second credit card will arrive by next month
and also you must pay in full . Works if you get paid every two weeks or twice
a month , I called it recycle your credit cards.

Brad of CA 6:38PM July 03, 2010

FIRST OFF, THROW AWAY THE CARDS.....KEEP ONE FOR AN EMERGENCY (HOTEL, CAR RENTAL ONLY TAKE CARDS AS SECURITY). IF YOU DONT EARN ENOUGH TO PAY MORTGAGE, FOOD, UTILITIES, TAXES, CABLE, CELL, SCHOOL, ETC...HOW CAN YOU PAY OFF A CREDIT CARD??? STOP SPENDING IS FIRST STEP.

UNCLE LIDO of NY 6:35PM July 03, 2010

RIGH NOW MY DEBT IS ABOUT $ 23,000.00 DOLLARS SOME OF MY CREDIT CARD ARE OVER 25 % INTEREST OTHER 18 % AND 12 % WHEN I CALLED THE BANK WITH ONE OF MY CREDIT CARD ( CHASE BANK ) TOLD ME CAN NOT LOWER THE INTEREST RATE BY LAW AFTER OUR PRESIDENT OBAMA SIGN THE NEW LAW ABOUT THE CREDIT CARD THEY CANNOT LOWER THE RATE.
MY RATE WENT UP ALMOST 10 % OR MORE WITHOUT NO RESON WHAT SO EVER
HOW GOING TO BE ABLE TO PAY THAT DEBT STILL I HAVE TO PAY MY HOUSE NOTE, FOOD, MY CHILDREN SCHOOL. GIVE ME A SOLUTION SHOULD MAKE A LOAN TO PAYOFF OR NOT. ANY SUGESTION OR IDEA IS WELCOME. BECAUSE RIGHT NOW I DON'T SEE THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNEL
THANKS
BOSCO

BOSCO FLETES of LA 6:03PM July 03, 2010

She's over 55 now and has around $20,000 she owes Macy's, JcPenny's, and Visa. It started escalating when she paid for my sister's baby shower to be in the restaurant at Macy's (when they had one) and its just gotten worse and worse. She knows that her only paying the minimum payment each month is hurting her financially, but she doesn't have the money to pay more than that! Her one bill for Macy's Visa, the highest by far, is over $500. She recently had that lowered to $250, but is still just paying the minimum because JCP went up to over $150. She's a shop-a-holic, but is trying to get better, paying more with cash. I pay her bill online for her-she's bad with the internet-and I add on at least $10 a month, what I can, but I know that's not helping. I'm trying to help her find a better way to do this! I'll show her this article and the other responses. Maybe she'll take the advice and I'll take the advice from the other article and stop smoking finally! I'm 26 and have been smoking for about 11 years-it's time to quit! That'll help my health, me financially, but I'll also try to help my mother as well-she's done a LOT for me, it's the least I can do!

KristinC of NJ 1:42PM July 03, 2010

I was always making a somewhat large payment to pay off my cards faster, but its hard while being laid off. I have to borrow more money to pay for groceries, mortgage, cobra medical insurance premium and few other bills. Even though I have always paid my bills on time and have a great credit score between 760 to 800, it's going to be hard to keep up with the payments unless I find another job very soon.

Sara of MI 11:34AM July 03, 2010

I employ some of the same strategy. I have a credit union savings so I borrow using it as security at a tiny interest rate to pay of high interest credit cards. I receive dividends on the full amount of my savings which further reduces the interest rate I pay. Supports my credit union, interest savings is tremendous and I pay myself each month with the payoff. Its a win win.

JNan of GA 11:16AM July 03, 2010

I have a ton of credit card debt. So to reward myself sooner, I make large payments on the smallest balances first. It's rewarding because I can SEE the balances go down fast and then when I get one paid off, I add that payment amount to the next one and so on. I have also taken on a parttime job to help and am trying to pay with cash instead of repeating the cycle of debt. So far, so good.

KarenJ of CA 11:03AM July 03, 2010