Have you been burdened by an ever-growing credit card balance? According to CNBC, the average American carries around $5,733 in credit card debt. Some have more, others less. But almost everyone wants it gone.
Believe it or not, there’s a simple method to reversing that growing credit card debt. It’s not the easiest method, but once you perfect it, you can kiss all that accumulating debt goodbye.
Links:
Learn more about Triangle's Checking Account and how to get your debit card
Have you been burdened by an ever-growing credit card balance? According to CNBC, the average American carries around $5,733 in credit card debt. Some have more, others less. But almost everyone wants it gone.
Believe it or not, there’s a simple method to reversing that growing credit card debt. It’s not the easiest method, but once you perfect it, you can kiss all that accumulating debt goodbye.
Links:
- Learn more about Triangle's Checking Account and how to get your debit card
- Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!
- Learn more about Triangle Credit Union
Transcript:
Welcome to Money Tip Tuesday from the making money personal podcast.
How many credit cards do you have?
If you’re like me, you probably have at least two or three.
Do you pay them off regularly?
I’ve been one to pay my card balances regularly, but with increasing costs of goods and the occasional impulse purchase, a couple small vacations and a few home repairs, those balances grew faster than I was able to keep track of.
So I started the credit card juggling act.
If one card balance was coming due, I’d simply start putting charges on a different card. I’d pay off the card balance that came due but continued to add other cards in the mix until I was juggling four separate cards with revolving balances all due at different times of the month.
Talk about a headache. Not to mention how confusing it can get trying to make sure I had enough money in my bank account to cover each balance as it came due.
I crunched a lot of numbers, studied calendars, set up notifications to keep myself on track. And the credit card carousel went around and around and around.
As I worked my way through these financial gymnastics month after month, I started to realize my balances weren’t going down. Instead, my debts were accumulating week by week. As a result, I needed to do more math and pay even closer attention to the charges I was making.
But they were necessary expenses. Or so I thought. Aside from groceries the other highest expense category was dining out. And we all know that hasn’t gotten any cheaper over the last year.
That’s when I decided, in order to keep my financial health in check, I needed to make a change. And I’m glad I did.
If you’re riding that carousel too and juggling credit cards month over month, accumulating debts and getting stuck paying interest every month, then it’s time for you to make that change too. With some planning and discipline, it’s entirely possible and I’ve been able to eliminate my credit card debt doing this.
This is one simple change even you can make and you’re likely already holding the key.
The key I’m talking about isn’t a fancy debt consolidation loan or balance transfer, though sometimes those help, this one is common, convenient and doesn’t cost a thing. It’s your humble debit card.
As my revolving credit cards kept digging me deeper and deeper into debt, I realized it was time to break out that dusty debit card sitting forgotten at the bottom of my wallet.
This little card was going to save my accounts from sinking deeper into debt.
Now that I had the tool, the next thing was to come up with a strategy on how I would use it to pay down the debt.
This is where the planning and discipline came in.
The plan was simple. Any and all new charges had to be put on this card. No more credit cards allowed.
The practice was a little harder to implement.
All of my charges went on debit card.
I didn’t add any new charges to my credit cards. Yes, I had to say goodbye to earning points and miles, but for the sake of financial security, it’s the better choice.
I cut back on things I was purchasing. I’d scope out the deals, avoid impulses, stopped buying extra things online. Essentially stretched my dollar a little bit more.
I had to keep a close eye on my checking account because once that number went too low, I could no longer spend any more. All I could spend was what I had.
Then as paychecks came in, I would pay any credit card bill I had as best I could.
After making sure I had enough money in my checking account to cover necessities, I would put extra towards any of my remiaing credit cards.
If I could throw an extra $100 towards a bill I did. If I could throw an extra 50 I would. It depended on how much I had at the time but any amount counted.
This process took a few months to work through, and for some it might take longer than that, but if you plan it right and stick with it, it will work.
Credit cards give you a lot of convenience, but they often tempt you in more ways than you realize.
The juggling act can work for a time, but it can send you dangerously towards racking up more debt than you can pay off.
Using your debit card keeps your spending in check because it stops you from spending money you don’t already have. You’re forced to make more thoughtful purchases and pay closer attention to the items you buy.
If there are any other tips or topics, you’d like us to cover, let us know at tcupodcast@trianglecu.org. Like and follow our Making Money Personal FB and IG page and look for our sponsor, Triangle Credit Union on social media to share your thoughts.
Thanks for listening to today’s Money Tip Tuesday and be sure to check out our other tips and episodes on the Making Money Personal podcast.
Have a great day!
