Interest kills your finances. Especially on credit cards. Did you realize that paying the minimum payment on your credit cards just builds a deeper and deeper hole for you?
I have a wonderful strategy for those of you who have credit card debt on more than one card.
Take out your credit card statements and write down the interest rate and the balance of each. For example, lets say you have three credit cards that have interest/balance as listed.
Card#1 13.9% with a balance of $555.00
Card#2 17.9% with a balance of $486.00
Card#3 19.9% with a balance of $322.00
Note that card #3 carries a higher interest rate than #1 or #2. In fact, Card #3 would cost you more than 40% more in interest dollars over a period of a year if they had the same balance! Do you understand what I am saying here?
The plan to eliminate is easy. Pay the minimum balance due on the lower rate cards (in this case Card#1 and #2) and pay as much as you can afford to pay on Card#3. (For example, you are paying minimum payments of $15.00 on Card#1 and #2 and you can pay $100, $150, $200 whatever you can afford to pay. Make it hurt a little.
Continue paying...