People use credit cards for many reasons: to handle emergency situations, to pay for necessities when cash is short, to make special one-time purchases, to live beyond their means for whatever reason. Despite all these different motivations, one thing many credit card users have in common is quite a bit of stress-inducing debt. If you're looking for some relief from your debt and the anxiety and bad credit score that may come with it, here are some things you might want to try. I have used of a few of these techniques and feel better for it.
- Pay the balance. Okay, this hint falls into the category of "easier said than done." Chances are if you're feeling the credit card pinch and used credit to begin with, relief isn't going to come your way in the form of a big balance payoff anytime soon. But look at your debt more carefully. See if you have one small balance card that you could conceivably pay off in a month or two (even if it hurts a little). Try it. Not only will clearing the balance relieve the debt stress from that card, but it will free up capital to clear some of the other debts, too. It's sort of a domino effect. Plus, balance-free cards can help raise the ol' credit score (if you don't close them once they're zeroed out).
- Negotiate with the card company for better rates or fee waivers, etc. Most money experts you hear these days are big advocates of debtors like us getting on the phone and asking credit card companies to cut us some slack. I haven't had too much success with this method, but I only tried it once. I know several people who did come up with some great relief through negotiating. What are you negotiating for, you may ask? It could be anything: waiving of a late fee one month, waiving of an over-limit fee permanently, lower monthly payments, lower interest rates. You ask for it, you might just get it. This isn't because the card companies necessarily care about you (yeah, right...) But, if you're so crushed with debt that you can't pay anything, the card company will settle for something rather than nothing. There's also the "take my business elsewhere" threat, too. So, try it out and see what happens. Relief could be on the way from the source of your debt itself!
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Author: B. Danesco