by Susanna Berlatsky

For a while now, we’ve been a country driven by credit. So much so, that when we purchase items , we will without thinking offer to buy it with a credit card, even if we don’t have to. As a consequence of this we have been slowly drawn further and further in debt to the credit card companies. It often occurs so gradually that we don’t notice it until it’s too late. We one day awaken and abruptly realise that we have accumulated thousands of dollars or more in credit card bills. And if not resolved, we can soon find ourselves working the rest of our lives paying interest on items we bought years ago. If you don’t want to end up in that situation, you’d better come up with a plan to pay off your credit card bills today. Here are a few tips to help you.The most important thing that you can do to reduce credit card debt is to stop adding on to it – now. The popular Will Roger’s quote, “if you find yourself in a hole – the first thing to do is stop digging” very much applies here. Most people, if they stop to think before they buy something with a credit card will realize that it is something that they can probably do without. And if you are deep in debt, it’s probably best to do without or figure out some other way to pay for it. If you continue to charge non-essential items on your credit cards, you are simply digging yourself deeper into debt.

The second most important thing that you can do to get out of credit card debt is to begin to pay off the balances on your high interest credit cards. Most people don’t really understand interest and how important it is. Depending on how much your credit card debt is, the difference in interest of only one annual percentage point can result in paying hundreds or thousands of extra dollars over the life span of the loan. But the situation is even worse than that because you are paying off the loan in after tax dollars. This means that if every month you pay $150 a month in interest on your credit card, and you are in the 25% tax bracket, you have to actually earn $200 of income to make that payment. The deadly combination of taxes and high interest rates are constantly working against anyone attempting to pay off a large credit card debt. That’s why it’s urgently important to pay off the highest interest cards first. If you do this faithfully and continuously every month, you’ll slowly begin to see the balance drop down off of that card.

You may find it impossible to begin paying down your credit card debt with your current salary. If this describes your circumstances you might want to seriously think about taking on a part time job with the sole purpose of paying off your credit cards. Working a part time job for six months or a year will certainly put a strain on your time but it’s a short term strain. The good thing, however, is that once you’re done with your part time job you’ll suddenly find your financial life becoming less stressful. With each card that you pay off you can breath a little easier because you no longer have to come up with the large sums of money to pay your monthly credit card bills.