Debt Information - Credit Card Counseling

Credit Card Counseling

Are you a shopaholic? Gotta have the latest and greatest and biggest and best of everything? Do you pay cash for it all? Doubtful, unless you're independently wealthy. And if that's the case, what are you doing here? Anyway, if you fit the above description, you could probably benefit from some credit card counseling.

Credit Card Counseling Tips

Credit card counseling can teach you a lot about budgeting and saving, but if you have a lot of credit card debt, the biggest benefit you'll get is the tips on how to save money. Think of them as shopping tips, like using coupons, not buying something unless it's on sale, asking yourself if this is something you really need, etc. If you want to get out of debt, but you're just paying the required monthly minimums, it will never happen--particularly if you continue using your credit cards! Here are a couple of ideas that may help.

You may have heard that if you get a raise, you should contribute the entire amount of the raise to your retirement. That's good advice. However, if you are only paying the required monthly minimums on your credit cards, perhaps you should contribute the entire amount of the raise towards paying those off first. Just think of the astronomical amount of interest you're paying! The sooner those cards are paid off in full, the better off you'll be.

If you're not that disciplined though (and if you're a shopaholic--no offense, but you're probably not very disciplined when it comes to money) you may need to use credit card counseling not only to learn about how to stop spending, how to budget and how to save, but you can also use it to find a good credit card consolidation to get you out of debt in about five years. How is this done? Well, first you have to find a good credit card counseling company. Once you do, a credit counseling professional will contact your creditors to get your interest rates lowered, and they may even be able to get your balances reduced. Then they combine all your credit card balances together into one, and you make one affordable monthly payment to the credit card counseling company and they distribute it among your creditors. The result is that you can be rid of your credit card debt in about five years (instead of the 18-30 it will take you to pay it off otherwise).

Credit card counseling is nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about. In fact, pat yourself on the back. You should give yourself a little credit for doing the right thing.

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