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Get out of debt: Debt elimination techniques

you to cut up the card and use cash only, we tell you to hold onto it so you can use it more wisely down the road.

With your Mastercard paid off, now you have $150 that you can apply to another debt. Shift that $100 back to your student loan, and then apply $50 to your next credit card.

Adding $50 to your Discover Card payment is going to pay that balance off several months early, thus freeing up another $80 dollars to apply toward another debt.

Now you've got no balances on credit cards, and you are applying the $50 from the Mastercard and the $80 from the Discover Card to another debt say your first car loan. So now instead of paying $340 on your car loan each month, you are paying $470!

Your balance will reduce quicker and interest will not accrue as fast on that shrinking balance.

This is called a debt roll-up, or a snowball.

Obviously, you still have to pay off your debts, and what is equally obvious is that you will still be in debt for several years. However, consider what would happen if, in 4 years, you paid off every debt except your two mortgages.

You will have freed up an extra $820 that you can pay directly toward mortgage principal every month. Now you've accelerated your mortgage pay-off to incredible speeds! In fact, you will be paying an extra $9840 towards your mortgage principal every year!

With the principal shrinking so fast, interest will accrue slower and you will be saving even more money. At this rate, you are going to be out of debt in about nine more years.

That's right, you will own your homes straight up and you will not have any other debts in about 13 years!

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