Have you succumbed to the lure of credit cards and found yourself
in a bit of a pickle because of it?
Pull up a chair and have a seat - Welcome to the ever growing
club of consumer debt. Your biggest challenge now is to dig
yourself out of this situation and avoid having to pay anyone to
help you do it.
The options at this stage are usually as follow (depending on
the level of credit card debt):
Consolidate into a loan.
Debt Management.
Bankruptcy.
Do Nothing.
Just pay off the cards over as long as it takes.
Make the minimum payments and keep spending.
Make an effective DIY plan.
The more popular solutions - such as consolidation loans and
debt management -we see being touted everywhere are the ones
that put your money in other people's pocket. I don't know
about you but for me becoming free from debt should not involve
spending more money, or *borrowing your way out of debt*.
So how does a DIY system work?
To break it down into 5 steps it looks something like this:
1.Address your spending habits and why you are in this situation.
To ever win with money and have a comfortable financial future
you have to control your money not the other way round. Take
complete control and set yourself some realistic yet desirable
goals for the future.
2.Know your options, the ins and outs of how they work and why
they are not for you.
Along the way you will be tempted by quick fix 'make it all
better' solutions like consolidation loans and debt management.
As mentioned already there is a multibillion dollar industry
making a very healthy profit from consumer debt. Your DIY plan
does not involve *paying to get out of debt*.
3.Know your situation.
Any debt relief system requires a bit of budgeting. As long
you've followed the rest of the plan so far, have desirable goals
and no intention of taking an easy -and expensive way out you
won't have trouble budgeting.
The other thing to know is your credit score. There are a
staggering amount of mistakes found on credit scores that result
in people paying more interest than they should. If you are
eligible for lower rates and 0% APR cards to move expensive
balances on to you need to know about it.
4.Minimise outgoings, Maximise income and leverage your cash
flow.
If you could be paying less for utilities and day to day
expenses you should. There is a very fine art of money saving
that you will become very good at if you're going to be
successful at this.
Home economics, consumer education and bargain hunting can save
you incredible amounts of cash that can go toward paying off
your debt quicker.
If you're really serious you can take it a step further and
create a secondary source of income. Be it a second job, or
using a natural skill/strength you have that can earn you money
in your spare time.
With the opportunities available online it's never been easier
to find those who are seeking out some knowledge, experience
and skills that you have and that they would pay you money for.
5.Form your system and put it into action.
Having followed the first 4 steps and laid some sturdy
foundations you are now in a position to develop a quite powerful
'snowball' plan. That is a system that gains momentum as you
execute it.
This step is completely dependant on the first 4 steps and
generating an extra figure that you can assign to snowballing your
credit card debt. As the debts get paid off the figure grows and
subsequently clears the rest of the debts a lot quicker saving
you a tidy amount of interest in the process.
It is very possible use a DIY plan and enjoy great success from
it, yes it takes a bit of hard work and discipline on your part
but the alternatives just cost you more and keep you in debt for
longer.
It's your money, it's your life if you want to truly own them
both then you have to take control not give it over to someone
else. Control or be controlled, the choice is yours.
Peter Webber is the creator of DIY Debt Busting Systems such as
the
100% DIY Credit Card Debt Busting System which is aimed at
those wishing to take control of their finances and get out of debt
quicker and without having to pay any extra than they already owe.
