It’s easy to go about your life without caring about the numbers you accumulate. Maybe you owe a lot on your college loans. For that reason, you are struggling to budget enough money for your monthly mortgage. Before you know it, you are up to your nose in unpaid debt.
How soon you start sorting out your debt makes a difference. Paying off the whole amount within a short span of time is something you aiming for, but it could be a long way off. You’ll need to make some big sacrifices to get out from under your mountain of debt. Here are five ways you can dig yourself out of debt.
Lockdown Your Spending
When you’re already deep in debt, don’t dig yourself deeper. This means putting off major purchases for the immediate future. Limit your expenses to everyday necessities that can be purchased with cash.
Consider cancelling one or more of your credit cards. You could limit yourself to one credit card reserved for emergencies. Keep it in a place where you won’t easily lose it, but you can’t easily get to. Consider getting a card that offers reward points for timely bill payment.
Credit Counseling
Unsecured debt, from credit cards, are bound to have high interest rates due to penalties. The best way to negotiate a lower interest rate with creditors is by hiring a credit counseling company.
Credit counseling works with your creditors to establish a new monthly rate for each entity. Once that’s established, the company will help you develop a personal budget. This budget is used to fund the new combined monthly payment sent out to different creditors. An additional service fee may apply.
Balance Transfer
If you are planning on getting one credit card, then get a balance transfer card. How great a deal you get with a balance transfer may depend on your credit score. If the score does fall within an acceptable range, you might be able to pay-off your debt in months.
The balance transfer fee is a flat upfront payment adjusted to percentage of the transferred amount. Once you follow through, you’ll have a card with a 0% annual percentage rate and a 6-18 month payment grace period. Just be on time with your payments to avoid more debt.
Avalanche
There are many strategies for attacking debt head-on. Some recommend going for the smallest debt first. Experts agree the avalanche method is the better.
Avalanching debt involves paying-off the highest amount owed first. Each of your debts are to be organized by interest rate. When you complete one debt, you move onto the next with the highest interest rate.
Bankruptcy
Many people try to avoid it, but bankruptcy may be the final option. Others might jump to this conclusion because it might erase all debt. In reality, only certain kinds of debt are cleared.
Consult a bankruptcy lawyer in your area to find out if this option is right for you. Your debt situation might not be that bad.
