Getting Out of Credit Card Debt
There are many reasons why people are trapped in the credit card debt. Some are good but many are bad. Do you buy luxurious things that you actually cannot afford? Do you often use credit card as your way to overcome unexpected expenses?

Debt is bad if it causes stress. You cannot sleep well at night. Debts cause commotion in your household and even divorce.

You create bad debts when you buy things that you really don’t need or you buy things that quickly disappear. For instance, you take a vacation to a famous tourist destination in a tropical island. Also read:

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Bad debts will become very bad because of the interest and penalties. For example, this month you bought a CD player for 1 million rupiahs (or 100 US dollars), you changed your old cell phone that is still in good condition with a new model for 2 million rupiahs (or 200 US dollars), and you bought a watch for 500 thousand rupiahs (or 50 US dollars). And at last Saturday night, you had dinner with your friends at restaurants and spent 1 million rupiahs (or 100 dollars). For all of these expenses you paid using credit card. Your total unnecessary expenses for this month is 4.5 million rupiahs (or 450 US dollars). By the end of the year, you still haven’t paid these debts. The credit card company will charge 20 percent APR. As a result, your debts will be 5.4 million rupiahs (or 540 US dollars).

Credit card debts are bad if you buy things that you don’t really need and are late in paying such debts. As its consequences, the credit card company will charge you the APR and penalties. If your credit card debts are very bad, you need an action plan to get out of them. The followings are steps that you must take to solve your Credit Card problem:

• Stop making more debts

• Find or make money to pay your debts. Don’t you have any money? Don’t use ATM in other banks because you will be charged with service fee for 2.5 US dollars. Stop other unnecessary spending such as cable tv subscription. Put all your shopping change in a jar and at the end of the month you will be able to collect 50 dollars. Sell things in your house or attic that you don’t really need or use. Open a guitar or mathematics courses in your garage or living room for children around your neighborhood. It will be more profitable if you give the lessons for some children. By running the courses at home, you will not have to pay transportation fee for giving such courses to children living far away from your home. Or you can open tax consultation and calculation services. Perhaps you have a large yard, why don’t you grow and sell flowers? Or you are an expert in making cakes and cookies. Make an advertisement in a local newspaper that you receive orders for birthday and wedding cakes as well as Christmas or Idul Fitri cookies.

• Cut your expenses. Buy only things that you really need during sales seasons. These usually happen before Christmas or Idul Fitri. Check the pressure of your car tires. Clean its carburetor to improve its mileage. If a book that you want to read is expensive, find it in a library. Don’t forget to bring your lunch at work. And the last but not the least, don’t buy luxurious things that you can’t afford to.

After paying all your credit card debts, change your lifestyle so that you will not go into the same debts again. by Charles Roring

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