Credit Card Debt Attack Plan

It’s all too easy to rack up credit card debt during the holidays. If that happens to you, don’t panic. While it’s much easier to dig yourself deep into debt than it is to claw your way back out, there is hope. If you create and follow a strong debt-reduction plan, you’ll be back on your feet in no time. Here’s how to do just that.

Pick a Lane

The first thing you should consider is which debt reduction strategy you want to use. The best way to do that? Pick the one that you are most likely to stick with. Here are the two most common debt payment strategies:

• Snowball method. With the snowball method, you start by listing all of your debts in order of least debt to most. You then start paying off the debts in that order. The theory here is that the feeling of accomplishment helps motivate you to keep going.

• Avalanche method. Similarly to the snowball method, with the avalanche method, you list all of your debts. However, with this method, you list them from highest interest rate to lowest and pay the debt off in that order.

Reduce Spending

Now that you have your debt payment strategy selected, it’s time to revise your budget. Go through it and trim all the fat possible. Take all that extra cash and funnel it toward your credit card debt. There will likely be some hard choices with cutting expenses, but remember, this can be temporary. Once the debt is paid off, you can readjust your budget.

Ask for Help

It never hurts to simply call your credit card company and ask for help. Most of the time, they will work with you. They want their money, so they will find a way to get it in a way that can also benefit them.

Do One Thing: Reduce your spending and use the extra cash to pay down your debts.