Credit Card Debt Elimination, Part II

As you will recall, yesterday I began talking about credit card debt elimination. We left off with the suggestion of calling the credit cad company in regards to asking for relief. Oftentimes, that is all that it takes is to ask. There really is nothing to fear for asking for a lower interest rate (I have seen my initial interest rate on a certain, unnamed credit card) creep from the "teaser" rate of 0.00% to an astronomical 29.99%. One could have a $1,000 balance which going from paying nothing for the convenience of paying with plastic to paying $24.99 per month for the same privilege, but only with the 29.99% interest charge. Spread that out over a year, and that equates to $299.90 each year. If it takes 10 years to finally get that balance to zero, it could potentially end up costing nearly $3,000. Would you let somebody "loan" you $1,000, but they wanted $4,000 in return? I cannot imagine that you would.

Having some sort of financial freedom boils down to saving money on things. It all adds up. Little by little, bit by bit, it accumulates until it is a seemingly insurmountable burden. One of the things that I learned after a few months with mint.com was that I was spending a percentage of my money on sodas at the gas station. Sure, $1.28 a pop didn't seem like much, but there were also accompanying occasional candy bars or snacks, but when I looked at the monthly summary, it was over $50. (Over a period of a year it was $600). I couldn't imagine that if someone were to offer to sell me a card that allowed me to get a soda and some candy every work day for a year for $600, I would go for that offer. (It gets worse if you were charging it to a credit card.)

For credit card debt elimination, begin by asking for a lower rate. The way that the economy is affecting everybody, credit card companies will be willing to keep you as a customer with a lower rate, after all, oatmeal is better than no meal.

For more, please visit http://www.money-for-my-life.com/.