When you dig a hole of debt it is hard to dig out and it becomes awfully difficult to manage with a mountain of debt to overcome. Whatever minimum you pay doesn’t make it go away even after paying month in and month out. So whatever you are doing wrong and however long you are going to wish it away, yet your debt shows no sign of disappearance. Figuring out requires a life style changing move which Brown took once he reached his rock bottom and expressed his willingness to allow someone to show what was going wrong. He got himself into a Freedom Debt Relief plan to start with. They heard him and showed him that he had to realign his wants and needs and only years of savings and frugality may bring his finances on track.

This time round he was dead serious to find his way out of debt and not be enslaved by it. Brown took some lifestyle changing steps. Here are some of the techniques he used to get out of debt.

Stopping credit card usage- Living on cash is quite challenging as all your life you have flashed the plastic and made your way out of the store. It was a massive change but it felt very different to see cash leaving the wallet which left an impact psychologically. Brown now keeps the credit card for emergencies only.

Paying more than the minimum- Brown had been making his payments regularly yet he couldn’t see his balance go down because he was paying the minimum which is usually 2% to 3% of the outstanding balance. It is really painful to understand that the longer you take to repay the charges, the more interest your lender makes. So if your minimum is $150, it might be a good idea to pay $250 instead.

Balance transfer- Make a list of your credit cards and write down each one’s rate of interest and look for balance transfer schemes offered by different banks. It will save you hundreds of dollars if you calculate what you will pay for a year towards each card. There are many banks which make offers to entice you to their line of credit. It does make sense to transfer 18% debt to 5.8 %. Examine the offer carefully, see what will be the interest rate after the introductory period and how long is that period. Know your credit line before you transfer balance to this new account, as your credit score is affected when you are close to maxing out on your credit line.

Snowball technique: If your entire balance is too large to fit one low-interest card, pay the minimum amounts due on all of your cards except one with the highest rate. Channel more money towards the high interest paying cards in order to pay it off as quickly as possible. Once the balance on that card reaches zero, move on to the next with the same repayment plan. Repeat this snowball effect until all of your debts are pummeled.

Create a budget Writing your fixed expenses and variable expenses and setting aside a particular sum of money for them can do wonders. Cap your craving and eliminate paying for things you seldom use Such as your club membership or your gym membership. Use that extra cash to pay your debt.

Most importantly persevere to stay on course, it is not something you can achieve in a month. It is a long race which can be won only with sheer determination to achieve your goal. You may not get a clean path to run this race and certain expenses may just crop up. As Brown puts it “being focused on the prize of living debt free is big enough and makes it worth the run”.

Author Bio: Freedom Debt Relief

Category: Finances
Keywords: Freedom Debt Relief