Wiping Out Credit Card Debt

To listen to our politicians and press, you’d think we’ve returned to the Great Depression, with 25% unemployment and soup lines, when it’s just about 1% of our people getting overextended in debt. Still, if you’re one of those people, it is the Great Depression for your family. Well, how do you get over this personal debt crisis, get out from under all the credit card debt and make the changes necessary to wipe out your debt for good? This article will show you how to eliminate debt without filing bankruptcy, ruining your credit or being harassed by creditors over late payments. As an added benefit, you’ll learn how to keep this from happening to you, again.

The Debt Crisis In Personal Credit: It concerns me to hear all the talk about a credit crisis as though the lenders were villains, forcing their money on poor, defenseless debtors. If you think of yourself as a victim of the creditors, this article is probably not for you and you will probably be bankrupt or homeless in a short amount of time. If, on the other hand, you’re willing to accept responsibility for your debt crisis, you probably have a good chance to get it fixed…permanently. The root of the problem is the credit customer, always wanting to live beyond his income. We see all that stuff other people have and want it for ourselves, whether we can afford it, or not. The motivation is probably a combination of low self-esteem, greed and pride, but the result is a personal debt crisis.

We buy a bigger house than we can afford because someone will give us the money…100% of it’s current value. We refinance as the value goes up, to get other things we want, not wanting to admit home values go up and down. We buy cars, boats and other big “toys” on fairly high interest loans because we’re unwilling to wait until we’ve saved for them and because we don’t want to be seen in that old “beater” of ours. After we’ve bought the home, we discover how many thousands of dollars credit card companies are willing to loan us, and that’s usually when the problem goes from barely manageable, to impossible.

credit card debt: A credit card is a great tool for people who manage their money but don’t want to carry it around. You can use someone else’s money interest-free for a month, enough time to get the bill and pay it off. If you don’t pay it off, you’ve already agreed to pay ridiculous interest rates each month until you do. If you make the minimum payment, it will take over 20 years to pay for whatever you buy, and cost you more than 3 times as much…not very smart. Average credit card debt per household in the US is $ 8,400, but since over 60% of families have no cards or pay them off each month, the average household debt of the rest is $ 21,000. This doesn’t count the car loans and mortgages. In fact, a very scary practice has been to refinance the house to pay for the credit cards and then use the credit cards to make the house payments. People who do this are mere months from losing all their assets due to foreclosure and bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy And Debt Negotiation: People who use debt negotiation and bankruptcy to clear personal debt without fully paying what they owe, are often robbing themselves of good credit and of a genuine solution to their spending problem. People go to court, get a good bit of their debt excused and, as soon as they get credit cards, start the cycle over again. The pain continues because the price of being financially irresponsible is not high enough…someone keeps swooping in and bailing us out. We never lose anything, and begin to think we’re entitled to get other people’s property without paying for it. This is a very painful existence, never being free of debt, because we’re never willing to say “no” to ourselves. Most people are capable of paying their debt off and freeing themselves if they hadn’t gotten bailed out. Had the people come and taken our TV, we’d have incentive to learn how to end our debt cycle, and free ourselves.

Wiping Out Debt And The Debt Cycle: For over 99% of us, it’s possible to eliminate credit card debt in less than 2 years, and total debt in less than 5. All we need to do is make a Total Debt Elimination-Reduction Plan and discipline ourselves to follow it. Uh-oh! Did I use the “D” word…Discipline? Well, that’s the price of debt-freedom. If we aren’t willing to pay that price, it explains why we’re where we are, financially. For the precious few who read this article and actually decide to discipline yourselves and wipe out the debt cycle, I want to applaud you and tell you there’s no question you can do it. For the rest, I’m not going to coddle or sympathize.

Here in the US, we have more wealth and economic choice than anyone in the history of the world. Our welfare recipients live in better economic conditions than 96% of the world. Having visited third world countries and seen people living in cardboard boxes, it’s embarrassing for me to hear financial hardship described as having only one plasma TV. I said that to say this.

Anyone in the US who is willing to work hard and discipline themselves can wipe out their credit card debt, auto loans and mortgages. You can free yourself from the debt cycle and soar above the common temptations of wasteful spending. The only thing holding you back is willingness. If we’re not willing to work hard and discipline ourselves, no amount of assistance will free us. On the other hand, if you’re willing to do what it takes to be debt-free, you’ll have all the help you need.