Pointers To Help You Get Out Of Credit Card Debt

credit card debt

As of July 2008, US credit card debt totaled $962 billion! It is estimated that 1 in 20 American households owe more than $8,000 in bad credit debt. There are many ways to get rid of this debt. You may try to go it alone or you may enlist a debt reduction or credit counseling specialist. Some people take out home equity loans as a quick fix, while others declare bankruptcy to wipe the slate clean. It all just depends on your personal financial situation.

You can get rid of bad credit debt by taking out a loan. To alleviate credit card debt, you may be able to take out a second mortgage or a home equity line of credit to pay off all your other balances. Be aware that this could be do or die situation for you because if you don't pay off that loan, then you could lose your house! You'll have to pay interest on your loan, as well as "points" (1 point for every 1% you borrow). One good thing about a home equity loan is that you'll receive tax credits that aren't available with other forms of debt repayment.

To prevent credit card debt, you should first only take advantage of offers you actually need. There is no reason to ever have more than two or three credit cards. Having an unsecured credit card you never use is worse than just buying one thing per month and paying it off each month. To build your credit wisely, you may want to use a secured credit card, where you pay the bank your credit limit upfront and then only take out what you have put in, which is sort of like a debit card, only this one gets reported to all three credit bureaus to show your progress.

Speaking of debit, use your credit card as you would a debit card, subtracting each purchase from your savings to be sure you're not overspending. Ideally, you'll want to pay on-time and in full because only paying off the minimum balances can take years to pay off the full amount, given the interest. Be sure you don't max out your credit cards as well. If you're using over 30% of your available credit limit, then your credit score will go lower.

Rather than go through credit restoration services, you may want to attack your credit report on your own. You can order a free copy of your credit report from all 3 of the major credit bureaus, which are TransUnion, Equifax and Experian, at www.annualcreditreport.com, which should show all your late payments, collections accounts, loans and outstanding debts from the past 7-10 years. You can dispute some of the credit card debt or notations for free, which could boost your low credit score. You may click a few buttons online or mail in updated records to the credit bureaus or you may want to call your creditors directly and ask them to remove outdated information for you. This sometimes works for inaccurate information, but it's not a guarantee. Usually, when you mess up on your payments, you have to take a hit for at least 1-2 years. The good news is that your payment history from the past 48 months counts the most, so you can repair your credit by turning over a new leaf and borrowing more responsibly.