Help With Debt

Getting into debt is relatively easy, being able to control debt can be difficult. Unexpected circumstances which can negatively alter your financial situation can happen at anytime.

You may be laid off from work, your relationship may fail, illness may affect you or a family member – There are numerous situations that could eventuate which may cause a person to take on unwanted debt.

Many of the above examples can be beyond your control but they can all lead to financial struggles. In addition, a person may just be careless and rack up a boat load of debt from extensive shopping, traveling, eating out and indulging in excessive entertainment.

Regardless of how the debt was created, getting out of debt requires a plan.

Below are a few popular and effective ways of eliminating debt whilst learning positive financial habits.If you are in a serious situation that requires immediate help try My Money Steps which is a free, independent and confidential online debt advice service from National Debtline.

 
Financial Clarity (Budgeting) – One of the first things to do is to completely isolate the issue, for some this may be easier than others. Creating a detailed budget is an accurate way to pin point the areas within your finances which are creating debt.

Create a Plan – With a complete view of your finance from creating a budget, you should be able to identify areas of savings. This may include reducing spending habits for shopping, groceries, entertainment and cancelling rarely used memberships or reducing service plans such as mobile, cable, internet, etc…

Attacking Debt – Once you have created a budget and streamed lined your finances, reducing debt should become much easier. As with most things, depending on your specific circumstances there are multiple ways to eliminate debt.

Debt consolidation Loan if you have good credit and can access a personal loan for consolidation, this is a great way to get out of debt. The key is to get a loan that has a lower interest rate than all of your other debts. This will allow you to save in interest repayments and focus on eliminating just one debt versus multiple.

Credit Card Balance Transfer this is pretty much the same principal as a debt consolidation loan. Its wrapping multiple credit cards into one – which hopefully has a zero percent interest rate for a set period of time and then reverts to a rate that is still lower than the original cards.

Debt Snowballing – In instances when you may not be able to consolidate debt through a loan or balance transfer, this may be a option for you. Snowballing is a tactic where you focus on the smaller debt amounts first, paying the monthly repayments plus whatever else you can afford to try and eliminate this debt first. Then move on to the next bill doing the exact same thing. You continue this process until all the debts are eventually paid off. It’s a cumulative effect that can accelerate the process of getting out of debt quicker.

Find Money – Selling unwanted items is a great way to obtain cash which can be used to pay down debt. One many junk is another mans treasure…take advantage of that and get rid of things which you no longer need or rarely use. Its so easy to sell things online these days.

Talk To Your Creditors – Contacting your creditors to try and negotiate a more flexible payment plan is becoming a common practice these days. It’s in their best interest to work with you than against. As this tactic has become more common of the past couple of years, creditors are familiar with these types of request and will often work with you.

The above are just some of the different tactics that can be used to get out of debt. A combination of multiple strategies can increase the speed in which you can get out of debt. It all comes down to completely understanding your situation and then creating a debt eliminating plan that works for you.

In the event that it all just seems to overwhelming getting professional help may be the best option. There are both paid and free services available with varying results. Do your due diligence (review sites) when researching the different service providers and go with what your comfortable with.