Debt Relief - How do I Pay Off My Credit Card Debt Quickly?High school or college never really prepares us important lessons of personal finance such as dealing with credit cards, debt or investing your money. We just stumble through life picking up things as we go. Some of us learn these valuable lessons the hard way - by getting buried in credit card debt. For those individuals we have the following tips to liberate yourself from debt forever: 1) Settlement or Counseling - Pick Your Poison Often the first decision you have to make is choosing between debt settlement and credit counseling. If you pick a counseling program, you can negotiate lower terms with the creditor while making a monthly lumpsum payment. The problem that most often happens with this program, is that they rarely work and one missed payment can ruin the deal. As far as debt settlement is concerned, you can negotiate a reduction of the total amount owed, but usually with the catch that you will have to pay it in full. Often, most people do not have that much money to make full payments even at much lower amounts. Other than these two options you are stuck with paying the complete amount borrowed at high interest rates. 2) Dont Fall For The 'I gotta Have it' Trap From early years, you are conditioned through advertisements to buy all sorts of products you dont really need. When its not on TV, its on internet web sites, newspapers and other media. These skilled experts in persuasion convince you to enter this never-ending cycle of conusmerism. The only way you can break free from this cycle is by unconditioning yourself. One question you should ask yourself when you reach for your wallet is - 'Will this help me solve my debt problems or increase them?' 3) Cash is King Make cash your best friend. Limit the use of credit cards to a bare minimum. Save yourself on interest owed on credit cards. If you cant afford to buy something, dont. Start a savings and put money away till you have enough to buy it outright. Of course, dont get stuff that you 'want' but rather focus on your basic 'needs'. Make the getting out of debt a 'need' rather than a want. 4) Dream About Your Freedom Day Every day, imagine what it would feel like to be completely liberated from all sorts of consumer debt. How would you feel? What would you do? Visualize all this in great detail. Now, think about all the misery you would have to endure if your debt keeps rising. Make this visualization a daily habit. Soon, you will find yourself moving towards the positive goal of being debt free and away from the bad habits of yesterday. You'll start making better choices on a daily basis and you WILL get free of all debt.
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