Paying off your credit card, especially if you have not been consistent and disciplined with payments can make you feel like you are a hamster on a wheel. As credit cards are revolving loan. This means every time you make a payment, that amount is available again as credit, which you end up using and are back in debt at square one.
Squash your credit card expenses with this 4 step debt plan:
- Pay in extra each month rather than just only the amount due. Then take it a step further by calling the bank to decrease the limit so that you do not have any credit available on your credit card. Once you see your monthly credit card debt repayments decreasing you’ll be motivated to keep paying more so to get out of debt sooner.
- Supplement your current income to accelerate your debt repayments to survive without using payday loans. When your paycheck is not enough to get you through the month then think about another form of income. You could start tutoring, baking or freelancing. These are options to consider especially if receiving a substantial pay increase at work is not an option at this time.
- Start budgeting to analyse where your money is going and where you can cut back on costs. Especially on entertainment, whether it is eating out or purchasing airtime/data bundles. Also checking your bank statements can help you see your bad habits when it comes to using your bank card where you could be spending far too much money withdrawing cash from the ATM rather than swiping for purchases which is much cheaper.
- Downgrade your bank account to reduce bank fees or redirect the money you are saving to repaying your debt.