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Debt is quickly becoming America’s ball and chain. The personal credit card debt held by consumers as of July 10, 2008 is $5,312,998,074,837.08. That is $5.3 trillion dollars of personal debt.

So you are not alone in your struggles to control your debt. The whole nation is right along with you.

Reasons to avoid debt

  • The weight it causes on your day-to-day functioning can be extremely burdensome.
  • Problems arise because sometimes it takes years to actually feel the pinch and pain you have gotten yourself into.
  • The credit card companies delight in your failure. They make things so easy for you to get into debt and they love it. One day, you make be sinking so fast, you can’t get out.

    • Track your spending

    Hopefully you take managing money seriously and actually look and keep track of how much money is coming in and how much money is going out of your accounts. Being oblivious to this critical factor is what keeps people at debt’s beck and call.

    If you were to relate this feeling to gaining weight, assuming that you didn’t have a medical problem that was causing weight gain, the day-to-day input builds up and soon you’ve discovered you’ve put on 20 pounds.

    Stop getting further into debt

    Have the courage to look at what is causing you to go into debt. Sometimes it takes a little cheering from others to encourage you to start making a strategic debt reducing plan.

    Learn from the debt control experts

    Dr. John DeMartini, teaches debt management principles that are so simple that anyone can remember and practice them. If I were to sum up his philosophy it would be: “If you emotionalize money, it goes. If you put strategies with it, it grows.”  That philosophy is so true.

    Pay your debts on time

    Automate your credit card payments using online bill paying with your local bank. Life so frequently just gets going and people forget to put payments in the mail. Don’t let being forgetful be the cause of late payments. Late payments can ruin your credit.

    Order a free credit report

    A recent amendment to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months. 

    The Federal Trade Commission offers you a free credit report, so take advantage of it and find out what problems you may be having with your credit.

    Make a plan and move on

    Perhaps the worst thing to do when you are in financial trouble is to give up.  It’s also the easiest and certainly it’s understandable.  However, when you give up, life just gets worse. It might seem like you have little or no control over your situation, but in reality, the opposite is true.  

    William Ernest Henley, in the late 1800’s, said, “I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul.” Your attitude determines your future. Make a plan to track your finances, pay your bills on time and take charge of your debt reduction plan today.

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