A Simple Formula for Paying Down Credit Card Debt
There is no doubt about it, more and more Americans are finding themselves mired in credit card debt and there is no easy way out of it. There is however, a simple formula for paying down credit card debt.
www.bestcreditquote.com is owned and operated in Chicago, Illinois where we happen to have a couple of pretty good newspapers that do a nice job of reporting financial news. This simple but effective advice for paying off credit card debt comes courtesy of Chicago Sun-Times syndicated columnist and Registered Investment Adviser Terry Savage.
I have come to trust Terry’s advice over the years and she has proven herself to be a professional that conducts herself with the highest standards of integrity. For this post I’m borrowing from Terry’s column which was published on July 13, 2009.
In Terry’s article which is titled “Credit Card Quagmire” she offers a simple yet effective formula for eliminating credit card debt in less than three years.
The formula is:
Double the current monthly minimum payment and continue to double current monthly payment month after month, every month and do not charge another penny on your credit card.
If you follow this formula your entire balance, no matter how much it is, will be paid in full in less than 3 years time. See, I told it was simple. The trick to successfully pulling this off is two-fold however.
First off, you have to be in the financial position to be able to afford to double your monthly minimum payment every month and secondly you must have the discipline to not make any more charges on your credit card.
Terry went on to state that if you were to only pay the minimum each and every month it could take anywhere from a whopping 12 to 25 years to pay off your credit card debt. That’s a pretty frightening scenario isn’t it?
She also makes some great points in her article about how Congress has dropped the ball with the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act. And I frankly, could not agree more and have questioned the same things in recent posts.
Mainly, how in the world can Congress allow the credit card issuers to operate in the same fashion that they have been for years ahead of the reform act going into effect which won’t happen for quite some time? Why did they not make the legislation effective immediately?
It is almost like telling them to go ahead and grab what you can while you can and we will pretend not to notice. You think members of Congress are beholden financially to banks and financial institutions? You better believe they are… and they’re not fooling anyone.
You can read Terry’s entire article here: Credit Card Quagmire
It is an excellent article and I suggest that you read it right away. You may also want to bookmark Terry’s web page. She does excellent work and I know you will find value in her advice.
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