5 Strategies To Wipe Out Your Credit Card Balance

By Silicon Valley Blogger. Last updated 20 November 2017. 15 comments

Many of the credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which Wise Bread receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers. Any opinions expressed are those of the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved, endorsed, or provided by the issuer.

ShareThis

I have a couple of friends who live by their credit cards.  Unfortunately, they both have lower income jobs and live in survival mode, while continuing to participate in one financially detrimental pastime -- which is to shop without remorse.  They've been enjoying the good life on a very modest income and consequently, are now swimming in credit card debt with balances in the 5 figures.

I've gently reminded them over the years that they need to clamp down on their shopping activities and instead focus on more affordable ways to spend their time. But they complain about how tough it is to drop a "bad" habit.  I personally feel that it's harder to drop pounds than it is to drop a spending habit and to cut costs, but in both situations -- whether you aim to lose weight or to reduce your debt -- you'd want an action plan to succeed.

So how about we go through some suggestions on how to escape the clutches of credit card debt?

1. Get a lower interest rate.

If you've got a sky-high interest rate on your credit cards, think of ways to work out a lower rate.  Perhaps you're a loyal credit cardholder: is there some room to negotiate with your credit card company?  It doesn't hurt to ask if they can work out a better rate for you.  I'd try this first before looking into a few more schemes, such as considering balance transfer credit cards, or moving your balance to a card with a lower rate. If you don't have the money to pay down your loan aggressively, you may want to consider borrowing it elsewhere at lower rates and using that money to apply to your card balance.

Tip: Have you considered turning to friends, family or even a peer to peer lending network for liquidity?  You can check out our Lending Club review for a discussion on peer to peer lending.  Becoming a member of a social lending network may give you access to loans with better terms, provided that you have good credit.

2. Track your expenses.

My friends in debt had one common problem -- they had no knowledge about how much they were spending and had no idea how deep in the hole they really were. So it's imperative for anyone who has a debt load to be aware of their expenses. The basic advice works: it will serve us well to make a budget, to use a budgeting program or to try out free expense tracking tools like Mint.  Finding out exactly what your outgo is vs your income will give you a snapshot of your situation and will allow you to map out a debt reduction plan.

Tip: You can carry around a notebook where you write down all your expenses during the day. This way, nothing slips through the cracks!  It may take discipline to start doing this, but hopefully, it becomes a habit over time.

3. Spend less.

So how do you control your spending? You might say it's easier said than done. I agree that it involves some will power, but I personally base my strategies for spending less on 5 principles: 

  • Prioritize where your money goes.
  • Defer unnecessary expenses to a later time.
  • Abstain from spending by just saying "NO" to my shopping impulses.  I actually use what is called my "3 day rule" to wait before I decide to buy something.
  • Substitute. That is, purchase and use more affordable items instead of the more expensive alternatives. Make sure you use coupons and that you comparison shop as much as you can!
  • Delegate. Which means that whenever you get a chance, find out ways to share the expenses. One example is car pooling: why not share commute costs with someone else to trim your gas budget?

Tip: Another great way to force yourself to save and spend less? Automate your savings, for the easiest way to save.

4. Prioritize your payments.

If you've got a lot of bills piling up and find yourself with a limited budget to pay off credit card debt, then prioritize your payments.  This will help you make the biggest dent on your debt right off the bat. In our case, we focus on taking care of our necessities first, after which we put as much as we can afford towards our most expensive loans. Our strategy has always been to be as aggressive as possible towards paying down debt. If this is something you find difficult to manage, then try to focus on applying more than the minimum towards your credit card balance anytime you get the chance. Any windfall you receive (tax refund, inheritance, unexpected savings, cash gift, lottery win) should go towards debt repayment in most cases.

Tip: One caveat: Suze Orman suggests that you pay the minimum on your cards while you focus on building an emergency fund if you haven't built enough of a cushion yet. According to Suze, our new financial environment dictates that greater financial risks spell the need for us to prioritize on short term savings first.

5. Earn more money.

Spending less is just half of the equation in order to pare down debt.  The other half is to earn more.  There's no secret here: you can increase your income through entrepreneurial endeavors or by getting a second job somewhere.  Another idea would be to increase your hours of work at your place of employment if you are paid hourly.  Maybe it's time to talk to your employer?  In our household, we've been able to bump up our income using this tactic: while my spouse and I run a business, we also try to ramp up our consulting gigs and external projects when we encounter slower months in our business cycle.  These days, you'll find that freelancing and job hunting are made easier with job sites like Upwork, Guru.com, Craigslist and other online job boards. We also use LinkedIn to stay connected with colleagues on a professional level, and through networking, we're able to secure job leads.

Tip: Create a professional online profile for yourself via a web site, Facebook or LinkedIn to raise your visibility to potential employers or clients.

Like this article? Pin it!

Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

Guest's picture

Here's another simple way to speed up the process of getting out of debt: Fix your payments. Here's what I mean. If you have a balance on a credit card and you make the minimum required payments each month, then the amount required each month will decrease a little each month (assuming you don't charge any more on the card). Paying this declining minimum keeps you in debt for a long time. For example, say you have a balance of $2,000 on a card charging 14% interest and requiring a payment of 2% of the balance each month. If you make the declining minimum payment each month, it'll take you over 20 years to get out of debt. But if you fix your payments on this month's minimum of $40 (2% of $2,000) and keep paying that amount each month, you'll be out of debt in just over 6 years.

Guest's picture
Guest

The best way to get out of credit card debt is to stop using credit cards. And the behavior of certain credit cards lately is appalling, so that gives you even more incentive to boycott them...and the stores associated with the cards. More than one of my store credit cards raised my interest rate and CHANGED MY DUE DATE without informing me! When I called them on it, they said they sent out a notice. Yeah right!

I imagine thousands or perhaps millions of those notices were "lost in the mail." It wasn't lost, because they never sent it! Anyway, I just got another statement from them, and my minimum amount has gone up again! I talked to two different people, and they couldn't give me a reasonable explanation as to why my minimum payment went up again. This time it went up by $1.50. Again, just like those other cards, they were hoping I wouldn't notice that small amount, and that I wouldn't change the amount on my automatic bill pay. They were hoping my payment would be $1.50 short so that they could charge late fees and increase the interest rate even higher.

I haven't used any of my credit cards since last fall, and I am slowly making a dent in the balances. I am determined to get them all paid off, and I will never, ever, ever use a credit card again as long as I live! I've done what Dave Ramsey, Suze Ormond, and many other experts advise. I have built up a "safety net" account to cover any emergencies, such as car problems. Now I have no excuse to use a credit card! I've got money stashed away in case the water heater breaks, or in case the dog needs shots. I don't have all the balances paid off yet, but, as far as I'm concerned, I'm free! I no longer NEED credit cards! I'll never need them again, and I'll never want them again!

Guest's picture
Cred

If you cant pay your credit card off, dont have one or you will end up in a world of money pain. Keep one credit card for times when you really need it, but not for spending on items you dont need immediately.

Guest's picture

Too true cred. If you haven't got it then don't spend it. After all it's not really yours to spend.

Guest's picture
Guest

Somewhere in this post, or in a link within this story, is the suggestion to call your credit card company (I e-mailed mine, I don't like to talk to reps on the phone) and ask for your interest rate to be adjusted. I merely asked Amex asked what the procedure was for an interest rate review, and they dropped it 5%. I mentioned this to my boyfriend, who e-mailed his credit card company (also Amex) and his was lowered 12%! I am so glad that I tried this! Thank you!

Guest's picture
Coles Myer

I have just receive my credit card report and the numbers there are almost the same with just a minor change that didn't affect my credit score.

Guest's picture
habika

Then their payments would be late, and Kohl's would be able to levy fees and higher interest rates on their customers. Trust me, my boycott of Kohl's credit card & store started that same day, and I've accelerated my payments to get rid of my balance once and for all.
=====================

Guest's picture

I appreciate the concern which is been rose. The things need to be sorted out because it is about the individual but it can be with everyone.
======================

Guest's picture
anab01

Excellent site, keep up the good work. I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks
=============

Guest's picture

This is the best site to take advice nd it help to solve ur saving problums nd give u different ideas for using cradit card nd take all the info about cradit card.The above statement is seen to be contradictory. The situation isvery critical and need an experience complainer to resolve it

Guest's picture

This is a wonderful opinion. The things mentioned are great and needs to be appreciated by everyone.

Guest's picture
myth1212

This is a wonderful opinion. The things mentioned are great and needs to be appreciated by everyone.

Guest's picture
david riched

The people are loosing their moral while becoming modern. The society needs to be attentive that moral value.Every dark night is followed by a bright sunny day. So, patience and attention is required and things will be fruitful in near future.
===============================

Guest's picture
williamgeorge

Hey its really great ideas and I am searching for this ideas for more than 2 months. And atlast I got more than enough from this post. And may I know while tracking the response, whether it will create any problem for me from the bank?
---------
george

Guest's picture
bob

Credit card's have the highest interest rates, and if you are not financial literate you should not be spending what you don't have. with things like paypal you really don't need one