Many people are under the erroneous belief that there are no legitimate ways to eliminate unsecured debt. If you are careful, however, this simply is not the case. There are, in fact, a number of relatively simple and effective ways to improve your financial future.
Paying down unsecured debt can really make a tremendous difference in your day-to-day life. In addition to reducing the amount of stress that is typically associated with credit card problems, reducing your debt frees up enough cash to live a little instead of simply living paycheck to paycheck. As such, here are a few simple ways that you can eliminate unsecured debt once and for all.
Get Your Creditors to Settle for Less
Perhaps the quickest way to reduce the amount of money you owe is to contact your creditors and ask them to settle the obligation for less than your statement indicates. Many times credit card companies will waive, reduce, or even eliminate interest charges and over-the-limit fees. This is particularly true if you have paying timely each and every month. Furthermore, if you offer to pay off the entire balance in one lump sum, many companies will reduce your balance by up to 50% of the outstanding balance.
Consolidate Your Unsecured Debt
When you are drowning in debt, many times the minimum monthly payments is more than you can afford to pay. In these types of circumstances, it may be beneficial to consolidate your unsecured debt with one credit card provider. Not only does this make writing the monthly checks much faster it often leads to lower accrued interest ; allowing you to eliminate unsecured debt much faster. It is, however, crucial that you pay attention to the interest rate you are being charged. Those individuals with bad credit may end up being charged ridiculous interest rates which defeats the entire purpose on consolidating your debts.
Seek Support via Christian Credit Counseling Services
Let’s face it; not everyone understands their finances as good as they should. While it is certainly nice to have a solid financial knowledge foundation to begin with, you can, with a bit of hard word, learn everything you need to know to get back on track and secure your financial future. Many Christian credit counseling agencies offer a free debt analysis. Often this can be enough to get you started as it is not always necessary to pay someone for this help.
Get a Second (or Third) Job
Yes; getting another job is not a fun idea. After working eight to ten hours at one job, there is nothing worse than having to go to another one. When I was in college I actually had three jobs, so I completely understand. Many times, unfortunately, your debt problems are not actually expense issues but are income issues. As such, another source of income can really work miracles.
Let’s say, for example, that you get a part time job that pays $8 an hour. If you work one eight hour shift a week, you could easily send off an extra $250 a month to your credit cards. This, by itself, can be a powerful way to eliminate unsecured debt. Combine a few of the simple strategies together and you definitely have the beginnings of a sound financial future.