Finance and Credit Professional

Forget about minimum payments? Is that a recommendation to stop making my monthly payments? No, but it is a recommendation to stop making your monthly minimum payment. The point of this is that you should never make the minimum payment because you will never get out of debt. Instead, make three or four times the minimum payment so you can start paying interest and balance simultaneously and slowly slash debt. It may seem like it will take a long time, and it surely will not happen overnight. However, if you are dedicated to slashing debt then you can do so with a little bit of dedication.

The key here is dedication to slashing debt. If you are serious about getting out of debt then you will start paying triple your minimum monthly payment or more. Doing this will help you get out of debt much faster. For example, your minimum payment is $80, so you need to pay $240. You may think that sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but it is not as much as you would have to pay back if you were not tripling your payments. When you consider how much you are saving by tripling your monthly minimum payments you will realize the upfront sacrifice is really worthwhile.

So, the next time your credit card statement comes in the mail do not look at the monthly minimum payment and think that you do not need to pay a penny more. Instead, find ways to cut corners throughout the month so that you can pay double or triple the amount. Not only will you save a lot of money on interest but you will also have the card paid off faster and can be debt free! Slash debt now by making bigger payments and be debt free in no time.

In addition, while you are making these extra monthly payments and slashing your debt do not get tempted to stop halfway through or to start using your credit cards again. It can be quite tempting to simply stop paying so much each month when you get the majority of your debt paid down. It can also be quite tempting to start using your credit cards once you have regained some of your balances back. Do not let yourself fall into this trap. In fact, consider hiding all of your credit cards in a safe place so you will not be tempted to use them. Also, go ahead and set up automatic payments to your creditors straight from your checking account. When you already have the check pending for a specific amount you will be less likely to go in and change it to a lower amount than if you were writing the check on your own and just decided to reduce the amount a bit.

If you follow these tips, you will find that you can avoid the pitfalls that would wreck all of your past hard work slashing debt. You must be driven and focused, and if you are you will see serious results because your overall debt will decrease each and every month, you will have less interest to pay overall, and in addition you will see your credit score recovering slowly but surely. If you are interested in really slashing your debt then go ahead and give these suggestions a go. You will be surprised at how easy it is to discipline yourself when you really try.

About The Author :

Steven Smith is an expert on getting rid of debt. He suggests checking out the slash debt website for more tips on how to get rid of debt.

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