Ways to tackle your credit card debt after the holidays

WINK NEWS

Oftentimes, getting gifts for your loved ones during the holidays comes with unwanted credit card debt for you. WINK News consumer report Andryanna Sheppard shows you a few ways to get that debt under control.

Swiping away, a little here, a little there, all to make sure you get those gifts under the tree.

Addie Diaz said she did use her credit card to pay for a few gifts but plans to pay off that entire balance when the next statement comes around. “That’s the goal,” said Diaz.

But not everyone can reach that goal. For many, their credit card debt has snowballed to the point of becoming overwhelming.

Sara Rathner is a Credit Card Expert for NerdWallet. Rathner realizes how difficult credit card debt can be. But she believes the first step is to make a plan to pay your card off.

Rathner says to take out each of your statements, see where you are financially, and then make a list of your debts. “You might have debts spread across multiple cards. You might have charges for subscriptions and things you don’t use anymore, but you’re still paying for them because you forgot to cancel,” said Rathner.

“It’s a good idea to, at least understand how much you owe on each credit card, what your interest rate is, how much you’re paying per month now,” she said.

The next thing Rathner recommends is to slash unnecessary spending from your budget. That way, you’ll be able to figure out how much extra money you can pay on your cards per month.

“It’s a really good time to scale back. Keep your finances really simple, see where you can cut and stop adding to the pile of debt,” Rathner said.

And if you do happen to have debt spread across multiple cards, try the debt snowball method. This is where you first work on paying back the card with the least amount of debt while still making the minimum payments on your other cards. Rathner believes this can make you feel more accomplished and prepare you to take on the rest of your debt.

“Every month you’re chipping away at that debt, it’s a smaller debt to have to chip away at, which means smaller monthly payments, shorter amount of time in debt overall. That’s a really good thing,” said Rathner.

Another thing to consider is getting a new credit card with 0% APR on transfer balances. Even if you cannot transfer the full amount from one credit card to another, you can still eliminate some interest.

You can do this while saving some money. But you will only be saving that money if you don’t spend anything on the new credit card.

Rathner said, “don’t keep piling onto your existing credit cards or taking out new ones because you’re just compounding the issues you’re going through.”

These are just a few baby steps to take to get to that big credit card pay-off.

You can also call your credit card company and ask to have your interest rate lowered. That way, it will make your payments more manageable. They also may give you other offers to help manage your credit card debt.

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