Cleaning Up Your Credit Report
The phone was ringing off the hook with collections departments hassling me to pay my debts. It was definitely time to get my stuff in order and pay off my credit card debts for good. I had a decent job, so I figured I could turn it around fairly quickly, so I went to the internet to look for articles and advice on how to fix my situation.
I got a hold of all of my statements to take a look at my interest rates. I realized that I hadn’t been paying attention and my rates were sky-high, practically 30% in most cases. This was totally out of control. I realized a new dining room furniture set I’d just bought at a bargain was going to cost a whole lot more than the price I paid in the store. I had about six credit cards going, with combined debt of nearly $15,000.
One of the articles said the first step is to stop spending, and cut up your credit cards. So I sat down with a pair of scissors and went mad cutting those plastic cards to tiny pieces. I had a lot of fun and they were everywhere all over the floor. I had to get my dyson upright vacuum cleaner to clean it all up when I was finished.
Next I organized my debts in order of which ones had the highest and lowest balances. If you pay off the lowest balances first, you can snowball the effect of paying off your debts a lot quicker. So I did that, and in my very first month killed one debt. As time went by more and more credit cards were successfully paid off. By the end of year 3, I had only two cards left!
It was still going to take some time to get rid of these last two, so I called the card issuers and told them I needed them to reduce the interest rate. It took a lot of time on hold, but it totally paid off! Now I have two cards at 9% APR instead of 29%! Really, all you have to do is ask and I’m kind of bummed I didn’t try it sooner. Now there’s way less finance fees to pay each month,
So now I’m a savvy spender, always paying with cash, and if it cost so much I need credit, I don’t need it that bad! I have two cards left open for emergencies, but the balance is firmly at zero. I won’t ever go back to those bad spending habits again.
Now life is virtually stress free without that cloud hanging over my head. I can rest easy in my full size loft bed every single night knowing my finances are in good shape.
Related posts:
- Consolidate Credit Cards to Decrease Your Monthly Payments
- Quickly getting out of debt
- Helping You To Do Debt Consolidation The Right Way
- Debt Consolidation Quotes Can Provide Debt Relief For You
- Credit Card Debt: How to Take Control
Tags: credit cards, Debt Relief