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Six months ago, Ostrich was my middle name. Why? Because my credit card spending was going up and up and I wasn't doing anything about it, just paying the minimum payment each month and not even keeping track of the new debts. My problem is, my credit rating is too good. I have 5 credit cards, with a combined credit limit 28,000. And by April my debt totalled 21,000. As my net annual income is about 10,000, this level of debt was frightening.

I kept thinking, I need to tell my husband about this, and ask him to help me find a strategy to reduce my borrowing. But the longer it went on, the more difficult it was to 'fess up. I was so ashamed. I had a BA and an MA, yet I had been stupid enough to run up a debt I couldn't possibly pay off in a reasonable time frame. Then Tony found one of my credit card statements and the whole sorry truth came tumbling out.

After a few very unpleasant days when we both gave vent to anger and frustration, we took a more positive attitude. I cut up all my cards except one, and then I spoke to my best friend, Helen, who was not so emotionally involved and was able to advise us both. She told Tony he had to shelve his anger and work with me to clear the debt. And she told me to stop beating myself up and find a constructive way out of my problem. She put me on to a marvellous website, moneysaving expert.com, where I found loads of in-depth articles with so much valuable advice.

The main thing to do is to escape the minimum payment trap. Like many people, I believed that, unless you could pay off a lump sum, it was no good trying to pay off more than the minimum, as it wouldn't make much difference. What a mistake-a to mak-a!Even if you only have a spare 10 at the end of the month, it is worth using it to reduce your balance. For example, if you owe 3,000 and your minimum payment is 70, you should continue to pay 70 a month, rather than just paying the minimum. That way, you will pay your debt of in one third of the time and save yourself thousands of pounds in interest.

Another little-known fact is that some credit card providers will give you a lifetime low rate on balance transfers and will not charge a processing fee. Your provider will not advertise this fact, so ask. What have you to lose, and you could gain pounds in interest saved. In this way, I have moved my debts from the most expensive cards and ensured that I am paying off more capital than interest. Just by switching my debt around, without paying out any more per month, I have reduced my debt by almost 1,000 in six months. The difference now is that, instead of my repayments being allocated around 50-50 between interest and capital, less than 20% of my monthly repayments is now swallowed in interest.

Of course, I am also tightly controlling any new spending. And I have been realising some of my assets by doing the occasional car boot sale to bring in a little extra money. The credit card providers were irresponsible in increasing my borrowing limits to such an extent, but it is my own fault that I find myself in this situation. Nobody held a gun to my head and forced me to spend all that money. I only wish I had spoken about it two years ago, before things got to such a parlous state.

If you are reading this and you are in my situation, go and talk it over with someone you love and/or trust right now. There's plenty of help available, and, best of all, it's free. You'll feel great when you finally regain control of your spending and your life. And you'll start to sleep again instead of lying awake worrying about it all. Take charge. It's payback time!

Learn more about this author, Sandra Piddock.
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