by Katerina Nikolas

Created on: January 15, 2010   Last Updated: May 01, 2012

Living on credit can be an easy choice, tempting with buy now pay later, have today what you can’t even afford tomorrow. There comes a time though when the credit card debts will suddenly become a huge burden to confront if you have allowed your spending on credit to get out of control.

If you are constantly only paying the minimum amount due, then the interest on your debt will accumulate and the debt itself will never get any smaller. When it reaches this stage you need to manage and then eliminate credit card debt. The first way to do that is to stop using all but one card, which you pay off and leave  for emergencies only.

Sit down and take a cold, hard look at your debt and ask yourself if you can even remember how you accrued it.  Can you even remember what you purchased on each card?  Was the spending worth the mess of debt you now need to confront? The chances are you frittered a lot of money away on things you didn’t even need. Look at how many cards it is spread over and note the interest rates charged on each card.

The simplest way to start managing this debt is to reduce it to one debt, by consolidating it. Once you can see the debt as one sum it is easier to concentrate on reducing it. Research well and then obtain a balance transfer credit card.

The two main things to look for with a balance transfer are a card with no annual fee or other charges, and a card with a zero percent or low interest rate.  Carefully research to find the best deal available.  Read the small print carefully. New credit card reforms ensure now that the lender has to stick with the advertised term of any zero or low interest rate and can’t just increase it within the agreed term. You must determine first that you will never use that card to buy anything else on credit. The sole purpose of the balance transfer card is to reduce your current debt.

If you feel you must have some form of credit for emergency purposes retain one of the other cards after transferring the balance, but ensure it is the one with the lowest interest rate. Only use it for an emergency and pay it off quickly. Cut up the rest of your cards once the balance on them has been transferred. Generally speaking you should be able to find a better deal with a balance transfer card because of the promotional offers, than you would find with a debt consolidation loan.

Once your debt is all in one place and not being added to, it will

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