April 7, 2006, Newsletter Issue #10: Managing Your Credit Card Debt

Tip of the Week

If you are like a great percentage of Americans, you are probably burdened by credit card debt. Credit cards have become far more than what they were initially conceived for. Today, people will whip out their Visa or Mastercard for anything, not just those large or emergency purchases that really need it. A big reason for this is the ‘rewards’ that many cards now offer. No matter how good you think you have it with your credit cards, you will be better off by properly managing your credit card debt.

One of the best ways to manage your credit card debt is to keep your eye on your interest rate. If you currently are carrying a fair amount of debt on a single or multiple credit cards with high interest rates, you may be able to consolidate them all onto a single, lower interest card. Today, you can even find zero percent interest offers from major banks and credit card companies. Personally, I am kind of tired of finding them in my mailbox. The trick with credit card debt is in the interest fees. Most people do not realize that the minimum payment on a credit card is only based on the interest accrued. Therefore, if you never make extra payments, you will never truly reduce your credit card debt.

By consolidating into a lower card, you can have lower monthly payments which will allow you to make bigger payments towards your principal balance. Managing you credit card debt can be easy or it can be hard. To be safe, do what you can to always pay off your balances and never find yourself in any serious credit card debt.

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