Open up a new tab and visit https://www.budgetpulse.com/ where you can create a free budget which will enable you to keep track of your finances and determine any extraneous areas of spending that you could cut down on and use the savings to pay off debt. Make sure you enter all of your spending into the budget, though, or it won’t help you much.
Don’t Save (Much)
If you’re buckling under the burden of debt, it doesn’t make sense to save, especially with interest rates so low. Instead, you should be plowing all your cash into paying down your debts and freeing up your finances. However, it might be sensible to set aside a small sum of say $1000, so that if you have any small financial emergencies, you won’t have to take on even more debt to deal with them.
Pay More than the Minimum
You should never, ever pay less than the minimum on any debt, because you will be penalized with hefty charges for doing so, but you also shouldn’t pay only the minimum if you can help it because you’ll be paying vast sums of interest if you do. Of course, if you have multiple debts, you can’t pay more than the minimum on them all, so take the highest interest debt first and pay off as much of that as you can, working your way down the list until your debts are clear.
Increase Your Income
It won’t be possible for everyone, but many of us will be able to increase out income. This could be by asking for that long overdue, raise, or taking on extra work such as dog walking, cleaning or freelancing online. If you use all of this extra income to pay down your debt, you’ll be home free in no time at all.
Sell Stuff
Most of us have more stuff than we really need and although selling the excess is unlikely to free you from debt, it will go some way to helping you make the payments you need to cut your debts more quickly.
Contact Credit Counseling Services
If things get really bad, it could be worth checking out credit counseling services. They have trained staff who are on hand to help you work through your problems and deal with your debt in the least painful way. They might even be able to freeze the interest on your debts and reduce the cost of any payments you’re making. Using one of these services will , however, show up on your credit score and have an impact on your availability to obtain credit in the future, so bear that in mind before you take this step.
Research Credit Repair Companies
Not all debts are bad, mortgages, for example, are pretty necessary for a lot of us, so once you’ve got on top of your debts, researching credit repair companies at https://creditrepaircompanies.com/reviews/ could help you to use debt to your advantage in the future by ensuring that you can get the best rates that won’t break the budget, by repairing your bad credit score and giving you a fresh start.
Getting out of a bad debt situation isn’t easy, and it is rarely fun, but it is necessary if you want to be able to live your life free from financial worry and have the option of obtaining necessary credit in the future. Once you’re out of debt, you should make it your mission to only take out loans, credit, etc., when strictly necessary and a long-term budget can help you with this.
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