IT’S YOUR MONEY
5 Smart Strategies
to Eliminate Debt
by Robert Rhinesmith
W
eighed down by credit-card
bills?
Do your credit card
balances keep you awake at
night? Have they wrecked your credit score?
Short of winning the lottery or coming
into a large inheritance, you won’t find a
quick-fix solution that will make your debt
disappear, despite what solicitors or infomer-
cials might have you believe.
There are, however, many reliable strat-
egies for paying down your debt. They’ve
worked for others. Will they work for you?
Ultimately, you’ll achieve success by
• Picking a plan that appeals to you.
• Sticking with it until you’re debt-free.
• NEVER, EVER USE A PAYDAY
LOAN SERVICE!! (There are no
usurious use laws in some states, which
means a lender can charge you ANY
interest rate they choose! I’ve seen rates
as high as 300%!!!)
Minimum payment due, read the
box on your credit-card statement. What
an enticing idea: Pay a small amount and
you don’t have to worry about the bill for
another month! Alas, as the more than 45
percent of Americans who carry a balance
every month know, that rotating charge
usually comes back to bite you. For example,
a cardholder who owes $15,956—the average
amount of debt per household, according to
Ben Woolsey, the director of marketing and
consumer research for CreditCards.com, a
credit-card–comparison site—will end up
shelling out an additional $11,000 in total
interest if they pay only the minimum each
month.
You may have had a very good reason
for running up high-interest debt: Maybe
you had to make some unexpected big-ticket
purchases or lost a job or endured an
illness. But regardless of the cause, ridding
yourself of that balance should be your
www.himpowermagazine.com 23