Americans have really gotten out of control with their credit card spending. In these hard economic types, where jobs are scarce, most American families have no choice but to pay their bills with credit cards. The sad thing is this will come back to haunt them when they run out of credit and have to start making monthly payments on their debt with cash. So how does somebody eliminate credit card debt? The first solution is to spend money wisely. If you have to use credit cards to pay bills make sure you are only paying for necessities. Don’t go out and buy an $800 laptop with a credit card. The least amount of debt you incur the better. The best way to go about doing this is to set up a budget. A lot of people don’t have budget sheets that list their expenses on it. This is critical so you know where your money is going towards at all times.

The one positive thing about rough economic times is that the government puts more pressure on creditors to give leniency to people in debt. This means if you have a high interest rate on your credit card then there is a good chance you can contact your creditor and see if they can lower your interest rates. Sometimes it will only take a phone call to the credit card issuer to make this happen. Just ask them if a reduced rate is possible and they will likely approve it if you have good enough credit. Also, if you have been a good customer who has made their monthly payments on time for a few years then it will only help your chances. Another way to fight the interest payments is to make more than the minimum payment every month. Since credit card issuers usually charge interest on a per day basis, then making early payments will help lower your interest in the long run.

The final step you can take to eliminating credit card debt is to take out a loan to pay it off. This may sound like a silly idea but you have to remember that credit card interest rates are usually much higher than fixed loan interest rates. A fixed loan typically has 30% lower interest than the interest on credit cards. This way you can save a little bit more money by lowering your interest. Then just remember to never get another credit card ever again.