How to get rid of credit card debt

I know a thing or two about how to get rid of credit card debt. I lived with credit card debt for years, lost my job and have had to scrimp and save and pay down what I could when I could. There's no secret to it, but there is some good old fashioned common sense.

First, get whatever credit card debt you've already accrued on the lowest available interest card. Luckily for me I've had good credit my entire life, so I was always able to find new credit cards that offered zero percent interest on balance transfers for anywhere from twelve to eighteen months. This means that what debt I'd already accrued wasn't sitting there growing larger while I couldn't do anything about it.

This is an important step in the quest to get rid of credit card debt, since the slower what debt you do have grows, the faster you'll be able to pay it off.

Also, if you can't get a zero percent interest rate, then don't be afraid to ask for a lower interest rate on what it is you owe. Be proactive in calling the banks that hold your cards, and tell them you're trying to get rid of credit card debt. Their goal is to have you pay as much as you can every month, too, so you should find them easy to work with (even if it's not going to be easy to settle with them on what specific interest rate your debt should be at).

Once you've done that, it's time to focus on whichever debt is the biggest and baddest. You need to choose one at a time and eliminate it. You can do this by only making the minimum payments on your other debts, then using what you have left over to tackle the one that you've determined needs to go first. As I said, I'd tend to go for the biggest one or the one with the highest interest rate, but really, it's up to you. Just getting the ball runnning the race to get rid of credit card debt is a great first step.

Once you're rolling with that, it's time to create a budget and cut your spending. You may have to switch cell phone providers or stop texting. You may have to switch from steak to chicken, or you may have to give up your weekly night at the favorite restaurant and make it a bi-weekly night. Or even a monthly night. You may have to switch from your favorite imported beer to your favorite domestic beer.

Either way, you need to calculate how much money you're taking in, how much money is going out, and where you can cut into that second number as much as possible.

Follow those steps and you'll be able to get rid of credit card debt fast.