I keep her Young, Fabulous and Broke book by my bedside for practical advice. Even though I am getting further and further away from young and nowhere near fabulous. Her steps go getting out of debt are what I go by (tackling the cc with the highest interest rate first, the amex). Suze's steps are:
- If you are in credit card trouble, you must cut up all of your credit cards now, with the possible exception of one card for emergencies; do not carry this card in your wallet, however.
- You must pay more than the minimum payment every month, as much more as you possibly can. If you owe a credit card company $5000 at 18 percent interest and all you do is pay the minimum each month it will take you over 30 years to pay it off.
- You must pay off the credit card with the highest interest rate first, and the rest in descending order.
- You must negotiate for yourself the best interest rates, even if it means switching credit cards every six months.
- You must understand everything about how your credit card works--all fees, how the company charges you, all about the so-called grace period, everything.
- You must honor all your debts equally--whether it's the money you owe Visa, or the money you owe your brother.
- After you pay off one credit card, you must apply the money you have been paying that particular company to paying off another credit card.
- If you doubt that you can do this yourself, you must get in touch with a wonderful nonprofit agency known as the Consumer Credit Counseling Service; they can be reached by calling 1-800-388-2227. They will help you organize and consolidate your debt.
- You must never let this happen again.
- After your debts have all been paid off, you are to apply the money you were paying all those months toward creating your future.
No comments:
Post a Comment