How to Deal With Credit Card Debt


by Freddie Johnson - Date: 2007-04-03 - Word Count: 496 Share This!

Are you struggling with your credit card debt? Are you getting calls every night, and even at work, from your credit card company? Have you been referred to a debt collection agency?

Dealing with credit card debt can be extremely stressful. And it's something more and more people are having to face. It's easy to go into credit card debt. It's not nearly as easy to get out of it.

Here are a few tips you can use to help you deal with credit card debt.

Make A Budget. I know, you'd rather go to the dentist. It's like trying to write down everything you eat when you're on a diet. It's not fun and not many people can stick to it. But keep this in mind. You're credit card debt has already shown what happens when you don't keep a budget. Don't think you'll have to keep a budget for the rest of your life, but you may very well have to for awhile, at least until you get your credit card debt under control.

You're probably going to need to give up certain nonessentials and put that money toward paying off your debt. You just might have to forget grabbing an overpriced latte at Starbuck's every day or eating out for lunch during the week. Expenses like this add up and we don't even blink an eye at them. Then we wonder where all our money went. You really need to write down what you spend and take a hard look at what you can truly do without, at least for awhile.

Contact Your Creditors: Ignoring or avoiding phone calls from your creditors is not going to make your debt go away. It's just going to make it worse by interest and late charges piling up, not to mention the damage to your credit cards.

Contact your creditors and explain what is going on and how you would like to work with them to fix the problem and pay down your credit card debt. If you contact them and are upfront about your situation, most creditors will work with you to pay down your debt. They would much rather do this than constantly chase you or pay a collection agency to run you down or take you to court. It's in their best financial interests to work with you regarding your debt.

Credit Counseling: Credit counseling may be an option for you. But you need to be very careful about this option. There are a lot of bad so-called credit "counseling" agencies out there, and working with them could make your debt situation worse, not better.

Don't run and hide from your credit card debt. Be pro-active and work to put together a financial plan that you can live with that will help you pay down your credit card debt. Getting out from under a mountain of debt will do wonders for the rest of your life, too, as you get rid of the horrible anxiety and stress from being in debt.


Related Tags: credit card debt, debt consolidation, debt management, debt relief, debt tips

Learn more about how to debt consolidation with Freddie Johnson's free articles on debt relief, debt consolidation and credit tips at http://www.mydebtconsolidationtips.com

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