What is the best way to get credit cards paid off besides the obvious ways ex. cut them up , pay down more?

Question

My hubby and I have great credit . We just owe alot.

Answer 1

All the above answers are good.

What you want to do is create a long term plan and stick with it. Generally, here is an outline of how to prepare.

1) Budget! This one is obvious. You need ti sit down and create a strict budget and stay with it. You want every dime of disposable income to go toward your debts. If you can't get past this step you are simply wasting your time. That means no dining out, no entertainment, everything that is not absolutely necessary gets cut.

2) Contact your credit card companies and ask them to lower your interest rates. If they won't do it, inform them they will be losing you as a customer...then follow through.

3) With your good credit you can probably get a much lower credit card, and transfer the balance from the credit card companies that won't work with you. Don't close those accounts, but DO cut up the cards and don't use them ever again. Closing accounts will hurt your credit scores.

4) A better idea to more credit cards is a home equity loan. Interest rates are lower, and the interest interest is deductable. Just a warning about getting debt consolidation loans...you MUST control your spending and don't run up your credit again once it's paid off.

5) Sort your bills in order of interest rates..pay just the minimum on all of the cards, and everything that is left from your budget on the one highest card. Pay that off, then move on to the next card.

Common sense stuff but it really does work if you dicipline yourself.

Answer 2

While this is not the best way to answer this question I want to tell you the experience that I had back in 1995. I had 2 credit cards. One was at $3330. and the other was for about $3000. I lost my job and moved. I discontinued paying on both cards. Of course I lost my good credit. I did continue to get mail from both card companies for a period of time and then they quit coming. Then I got mail from collection companies. I did not respond. I never did pay off those cards. About 2 or 3 years later I got an offer for a card if I paid an annual fee of $39. and a deposit of $59. for a credit limit of $400. Then after seven years I started getting offers from card companies and today I have 2 credit cards and I pay over the minimum each and every month. One additional comment I want to make is that credit cards are ILLEGAL! When ever a bank issues a credit card they are creating money and according to our Constitution the only body that can create and set the value to money is our government. The Federal Reserve is the banking industry and not a part of our government. The use
of the word Federal was to fool the country into thinking it was part of the government. If you want to learn more on this search out Ezra Pound and the Federal Reserve.

Answer 3

Probably the best course is to call up your credit card companies and see if you can get a lower rate. Most of the time the company will work with you....especially if you threaten that you will just move the debt somewhere else. If you have the debt on really bad credit cards to begin with (high APR and annual fees), try moving it to another card that has a lower APR and less fees. Offers are out there where you can get a card for 0% for the first year so you could also move debt to these kinds of cards and work hard to knock it out within a year or prepare to flip the debt again if the APR is really high after the year. Overall, you just need to exercise better discipline and spend below your budget and focus on knocking it out. When I had a lot of debt, I took a part time job delivering pizzas for 15 hours a week and this allowed me to knock it out within a year (most of the tips are tax free if you work it right!).

Answer 4

Budget - but the one killer is the interest - Many times if you call the credit card companies - they just want their money and if you tell them you are having difficulty and possibly tell them you are going to file bankrupcy - they will significantly lower the interest rates - Or you can transfer the money owed to a 0 (zero %) interest rate credit card and keep it there until it increases then transfer it again to another zero percent interest rate card - they are out there - you just have to look. This will mean you are only paying on the money owed rather than all the interest!! Just a thought!

Answer 5

ok, end charging on the playing cards. Take the bottom stability and pay all you are able to in the route of it purely paying the minimum to the different playing cards. once you pay off that card placed what you've been paying in the route of the first card plus all you are able to in the route of the subsequent card till you get that one paid off and do an same to the subsequent card, in which you'd be paying what you paid on the first card and the 2d card and all you pays on the 0.33 card, get my opt for the flow. that's named the snowball result. it really is staggering to pay off the bottom stability first, because curiously like you're making headway doing it that way as adversarial to paying off the cardboard with the utmost pastime cost first, except that's the cardboard with the bottom stability. you do not choose a debt contract business enterprise that could also help you try this. they're a ripoff.

Answer 6

If you guys have good credit I encourage you to do the traditional " buckle down and work harder" approach. Anything you do will effect your credit as far as program wise. Try to transfer to no or lower interest. Work an extra job on the weekends. Cut your expenses live minimally, in the end when it is all paid and you are enjoying great interest rates on your home or car you will be so glad you did!
Kourtnie Donihoo
Debt analyst
The EDA Group

Answer 7

I have had bad credti with cards but am now debt free. I used tax refunds each year to pay them off faster. But truthfully all people need to learn to spend only what we have already earned and not use credit so freely. Budget you monthly paychecks and try to live with out the cards til they are paid off. You already ataed what is the best way to pay them off---pay down as much as you can each month, put them in a safe/cut them up, etc.