{"id":49279,"date":"2021-09-14T13:23:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T17:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=49279"},"modified":"2021-09-23T12:17:22","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T16:17:22","slug":"how-to-get-out-of-credit-card-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-get-out-of-credit-card-debt\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Get out of Credit Card Debt in 5 Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Is your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/national-credit-card-debt\/\">credit card debt<\/a> getting out of hand? Do you want to finally start paying it off but don&#8217;t know to go about it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Getting out of credit card debt not only feels good emotionally, but it also boosts your credit score and can save you thousands of dollars in interest. Instead of thinking of debt as a looming monster you\u2019ll have to deal with \u201csomeday,\u201d think about how much money you\u2019re losing every day by carrying a balance that\u2019s racking up interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this article, you&#8217;ll learn how to get out of credit card debt in five steps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Invisible Scripts: Why People Get Into Debt in the First Place<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Most people have at least some debt, whether from credit cards, student loans, or a mortgage. Although we think of it as \u201cnormal,\u201d debt can be a crushing weight, both financially and emotionally. Those emotions are so overwhelming that we freeze up and avoid thinking about debt at all costs instead of actively working to pay it down.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To justify ignoring the problem, we fall back on a host of <strong>invisible money scripts<\/strong>. This is a term coined by financial psychologist Dr. Brad Klontz to describe the unconscious beliefs we absorb in childhood about money and debt that end up influencing our financial behavior as adults. Here are the types of invisible scripts people have around credit card debt and what they sound like in practice:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/comparing-ourselves-to-others\/\">Comparing ourselves to others<\/a>. <\/strong>\u201cEveryone has credit card debt. At least I don\u2019t have as much as my friends do.\u201d<\/li><li><strong>Using the size of the problem as an excuse not to try at all. <\/strong>\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how much I spend now\u2014I have so much debt that I\u2019ll never be able to pay it off, anyway.\u201d<\/li><li><strong>Normalizing the problem. <\/strong>\u201cI already pay other fees, so I don\u2019t mind paying interest.\u201d<\/li><li><strong>Not taking personal responsibility. <\/strong>\u201cCredit card companies are predatory. It\u2019s their fault that I\u2019m in debt.\u201d<\/li><li><strong>Ignoring the problem. <\/strong>\u201cI don\u2019t even know how much debt I have.\u201d<\/li><li><strong>Giving in to hopelessness. <\/strong>\u201cI\u2019m doing my best.\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><br><\/strong><strong>When we rely on these invisible scripts, we give up the power to do something about debt.<\/strong> Becoming aware of these scripts is the first step to taking that power back; the next step is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/accepting-responsibility\/\">taking responsibility<\/a> for the problem <em>and<\/em> the solution. Once you accept that you <em>can<\/em> do something about the problem, you can make a plan to attack your debt as aggressively as possible. Having a plan turns a scary, overwhelming, emotional topic like debt into a simple, manageable math problem.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Pay off Credit Card Debt<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Imagine you have $5,000 in credit card debt at 14% APR. You could approach this in a few different ways.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>You could pay only the monthly minimum (usually 2% of your balance). In this case, your first payment would be $100 (2% of $5,000). However, because the payment is a percentage of the balance, it will decrease as your balance decreases (so when your balance gets down to $4,000, your payment will go down to $80 per month). With this strategy, you\u2019re making smaller and smaller payments each month, which stretches out the repayment period for years.<\/li><li>Alternatively, you could pay a fixed amount each month\u2014let\u2019s say $100. This starts out the same as the situation above, but because it\u2019s a fixed amount and not a variable percentage, you\u2019re paying the balance down <em>more <\/em>aggressively as time goes on, not less. At the start, you\u2019ll pay $100, which is 2% of your $5,000 balance; when your balance gets down to $4,000, you\u2019ll still pay $100, which is now 2.5% of the balance. By the time your balance is $1,000, your fixed payments will be a full 10% of the balance.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>To see how much time and interest money you\u2019d save by paying more than the monthly minimum on that $5,000 debt at 14% APR, look at the chart below. Notice how doubling your fixed monthly payment from $100 to $200 would save you roughly four years of payments and $1,600 in interest.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Monthly payment<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Years to fully pay off<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Total interest paid<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>$100 (variable monthly minimum)<\/td><td>25 years<\/td><td>$6,322.22<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>$100 (fixed payment)<\/td><td>6.3 years<\/td><td>$2,547.85<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>$200 (fixed payment)<\/td><td>2.5 years<\/td><td>$946.20<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Five Steps to Paying Off Debt<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s time to get proactive about paying off debt. This process can take time, but with every payment, you\u2019ll have the satisfaction of knowing you\u2019re actually <em>doing <\/em>something about your debt. Remember, little steps can add up to big financial wins.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Without further ado, here is how to get out of credit card debt in a five steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 1: Total up your debt.<\/strong> Many people have no idea how much debt they actually have, which makes it impossible to make a solid plan (because the process of paying off $1,000 of debt might look a lot different than paying off $12,000). To get a sense of your current situation, call your credit card companies using the phone number on the back of your cards and find out your total debt, the APR, and current minimum monthly payment. Keep track of all the information using a chart like this one:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Card name<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Total debt<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>APR<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Minimum payment<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Card 1<\/td><td>$1000<\/td><td>14%<\/td><td>$20<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Card 2<\/td><td>$2000<\/td><td>18%<\/td><td>$40<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step Two: Decide where to start. <\/strong>You\u2019ll want to focus on fully paying off one card at a time instead of increasing your payments on all of them. You can do this in two ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Start with the highest APR<\/strong> (in the chart above, that\u2019s Card 2). This is the most financially efficient way to pay off debt because the card with the highest APR is costing you the most in interest for each month you stay in debt.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Start with the lowest balance<\/strong> (in the chart above, that\u2019s Card 1). This is financial guru Dave Ramsey\u2019s \u201csnowball method.\u201d It\u2019s slightly less efficient in terms of pure financial math, but it has the psychological advantage: If you start with the lowest balance, you should be able to pay it off pretty quickly, and paying off an entire card\u2019s debt is a huge win that will motivate you to keep going.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These are both solid options for paying off debt, so don\u2019t get hung up on choosing where to start\u2014pick one, commit to it, and move on. Remember, getting started on paying off debt is more important than doing it perfectly.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><br><\/strong><strong>Step 3: Negotiate a lower APR.<\/strong> This is something <em>everyone<\/em> should be doing, whether or not they have credit card debt. Remember, the key is to let the credit card representative know that other cards are offering lower APRs, and you\u2019d hate to have to transfer your balance to another company with a better interest rate. Credit card companies want to keep your business\u2014use this to your advantage.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><br><\/strong><strong>Step 4: Figure out how you can afford more aggressive monthly payments.<\/strong> You don\u2019t necessarily need to bring in more money every month, you just need to reprioritize and divert money that you\u2019re already spending elsewhere into your debt. Take a look at your spending habits\u2014where can you afford to cut costs? If you\u2019re not sure, keep that question in mind as you read the rest of this summary\u2014you\u2019ll find tips for saving money that you can use toward paying down your debts. Remember, the financial and emotional benefits of paying off debt will be worth any temporary sacrifices you make.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>There are other, less effective ways to fund your debt payoff\u2014namely, balance transfers (essentially, using a credit card with a lower APR to pay off the current debt on a card with a higher APR) and taking money from your 401(k) or home equity line of credit (HELOC). Sethi cautions against these methods because they don\u2019t address the root problem of your spending behavior. Instead, focus on building <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wealth-building-habits\/\">good financial habits<\/a> by reducing spending and prioritizing building credit by getting out of debt.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><br><\/strong><strong>Step 5: Get started.<\/strong> Remember that it\u2019s better to get started on a plan that\u2019s good enough than to spin your wheels trying to come up with a plan that\u2019s 100% perfect.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is your credit card debt getting out of hand? Do you want to finally start paying it off but don&#8217;t know to go about it? Getting out of credit card debt not only feels good emotionally, but it also boosts your credit score and can save you thousands of dollars in interest. Instead of thinking of debt as a looming monster you\u2019ll have to deal with \u201csomeday,\u201d think about how much money you\u2019re losing every day by carrying a balance that\u2019s racking up interest. In this article, you&#8217;ll learn how to get out of credit card debt in five steps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,31],"tags":[496],"class_list":["post-49279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-money","tag-i-will-teach-you-to-be-rich","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Get out of Credit Card Debt in 5 Steps - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Getting out of credit card debt can save you thousands of dollars in interest. Learn how to get out of credit card debt in five simple steps.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-get-out-of-credit-card-debt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Get out of Credit Card Debt in 5 Steps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getting out of credit card debt can save you thousands of dollars in interest. Learn how to get out of credit card debt in five simple steps.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-get-out-of-credit-card-debt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-14T17:23:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-23T16:17:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/minimalism-dollar.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"735\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"325\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-get-out-of-credit-card-debt\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-get-out-of-credit-card-debt\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"How to Get out of Credit Card Debt in 5 Steps\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-14T17:23:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-23T16:17:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-get-out-of-credit-card-debt\/\"},\"wordCount\":1374,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-get-out-of-credit-card-debt\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/minimalism-dollar.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"I Will Teach You to Be Rich\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\",\"Money\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-get-out-of-credit-card-debt\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-get-out-of-credit-card-debt\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-get-out-of-credit-card-debt\/\",\"name\":\"How to Get out of Credit Card Debt in 5 Steps - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-get-out-of-credit-card-debt\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-get-out-of-credit-card-debt\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/minimalism-dollar.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-14T17:23:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-23T16:17:22+00:00\",\"description\":\"Getting out of credit card debt can save you thousands of dollars in interest. 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