Reduce credit card bills
Feb 19th, 2007 by complex001
Many people have built up a lot of credit card and loan debt over the last few years and cant pay it off. How to get rid of your credit card debt depends on how long it has been held for and your financial situation.
If you have debt that hasn’t been there for a long time and nothing has been done to pay it then you will often find that the firms have almost written that debt off and don’t expect to get it back. However it will show up on your credit history affecting your ability to borrow in the future. If you contact them you are likely to be able to have the interest frozen. You can then either pay a small amount monthly until it is paid off or agree a lump sum to pay the outstanding credit off in one go. Depending on how long you have had the outstanding credit you could pay as little as 25% of the debt as a full and final settlement.
If your credit cards are all being paid but all you are paying is the minimum you are unlikely ever to pay off the debt. It always makes sense to pay off the card with the highest interest rate. If you have equity in your property use that to pay off all your cards but don’t then build up the debt again. If you do not have any equity in your property then target one card first of all and pay as much as you can monthly, and not just the minimum repayment asked for. This way you will reduce the amount owed and if you have any good months where you have extra money available then pay it in as a lump sum to clear that card further.