Ask a friend what resolutions they made for 2004 and your bound to hear them reply “Pay off my credit cards.” Ask them how they planned on reaching that goal and many of them will not have a clear cut answer.

The obvious first step to paying off credit card debt or paying down credit debt load is to cut back or eliminate the use of your credit cards. For some people this first step can often be the most difficult. If you’re used to spending freely with plastic and worrying about the consequences later, it’s difficult to break free from this “buy now, pay later” attitude.

To gain control of their careless credit card spending habits, some people cut up their credit cards therefore making it impossible to use them. Others lock up their credit cards or hide them in a safe place and vow to use them only in an emergency.

The second step to paying down credit debt is to pay more than the minimum balance due. Most credit card companies require a minimum monthly payment of 2.5% of the outstanding balance. For example, if you have an outstanding balance of $1100.00 on a credit card charging an Annual Percentage Rate (APR) of 18.9% your minimum monthly payment would be $27.50. It will take you 66 months or 5.5 years to pay off your balance of $1100.00 making the minimum payments. The credit card company will make $676.94 in interest from your use of their credit card.

Monthly payments are purposely kept low by the credit card companies so that they can earn as much as possible from the interest rate charged to you the consumer. Paying just the minimum payment will keep you tangled in credit’s web for years and years to come.

If you’ve been paying only the minimum due month

Now, it’s time to unveil “The Simple $10.00 Debt Elimination Solution.” Take that extra $10.00 and add it to the minimum monthly payment above, therefore making a payment of $37.50. By adding just that $10.00 a month to your minimum payment, you’ll trim 23 months or nearly two years off of that credit debt! On top of that you’ll save $277.00 in interest alone! That’s money you can put toward savings or paying off other debts. Imagine how much you’d be able to save if you applied this same simple strategy to each of your other credit card debts!

Paying down credit debt doesn’t always mean having to make huge monthly payments or sacrifices. It just takes some basic planning and a simple effective strategy to make it work.

© 2004, www.yourfreecreditreportnow.com

James H. Dimmitt. James is editor of "TO YOUR CREDIT", a weekly free newsletter to help you manage your personal finances. Subscribe to the newsletter by visiting http://www.yourfreecreditreportnow.com. He is also author of “Identity Theft - How to Avoid Becoming the Next Victim!” available at http://tinyurl.com/bc45

jimdim815@aol.com