http://www.debt-free-info.com/debt/n140.html Eliminate credit card debt once and for all. Stop wallowing in debt, eliminate credit card debt quickly and easily. en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:00:00 EDT Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:00:00 EDT Weblog Editor 2.0 Excessive credit card debt is a growing sickness in America, and like many illnesses, people tend to ignore the problem until it's of epidemic proportions. Take control now and eliminate credit card debt before it threatens your financial health. How to eliminate credit card debt To eliminate credit card debt as rapidly as possible at the lowest possible cost to you, I recommend using a tried-and-true credit card debt elimination method often recommended by financial experts specializing in credit card debt help. It's a fairly recent method called the Credit Crunch: List all of your credit cards, including the balance, the interest rate, and the minimum payment percentage and the minimum payment according to the latest statement. The minimum payment percentage can be found in the small print on your credit card statement or your cardholder agreement, and is usually between 2 and 2 1/2 percent of your balance. This is the first step in identifying and eliminating your credit card debt. Rearrange the list so the credit card with the highest interest rate is at the top and the credit card with the lowest interest rate is at the bottom. The second step in trying to eliminate credit card debt. Add up the required minimum payments for all the cards. Decide how much money you can come up with each month, in addition to the total minimum payments on all your credit cards, to apply to your credit card debt. If you don't believe you can afford to pay any additional amounts over the minimum payment, it's time to do a budget and find ways to cut your expenses. Third step in attempting to eliminate credit card debt. Each month, pay the minimum balance on each credit card except the one with the highest interest rate. On the credit card with the highest interest rate, pay the minimum balance PLUS the additional amount you've identified to assist in your debt elimination each month. Continue to do this until the first credit card (the one with the highest interest rate) is paid off entirely. Then take the amount you were paying on that credit card (which is now paid off) plus the amount of the minimum balance on the second credit card, and apply the total to the second credit card each month until the balance is paid off, continuing to pay the minimum balance on all the other credit cards. A very important step in trying to eliminate credit card debts. And the kicker Call every one of your credit card companies and request a lower interest rate. You may be surprised at how quickly some of them will agree. Lower interest rates mean you can eliminate your credit card debt more quickly without increasing your payments. If your credit card companies are not willing to reduce your interest rate, shop around for a new card with a favorable rate that will allow you to transfer your balance. Do your homework carefully to make sure you can pay off the balance before the introductory rate offer expires. Within no time you will no longer have to worry about how to eliminate credit card debt, because your debt will have been eliminated. There is not time left to keep sitting on your debt. Make the effort that will pay off dividends and work on your credit card debt reduction today! Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:00:00 EDT