Put your credit cards in a place
where they will not tempt you. You should consider keeping at least one credit
card for emergency purposes.One good
technique is when you go shopping; leave all of your credit cards at home.If you see an item that you really want to
buy, you have to drive all the way home to get your credit cards.This introduces a delay that is instrumental
in killing a 'spur-of-the-moment' purchase. You can take an even more drastic
measure by putting your credit cards in a zip lock bag, put the bag in a
container of water and place the container in your freezer.With the amount of time it will take to thaw
out the frozen container of water to get at your credit cards; this will practically
guarantee that you won't be able to use them on impulse!
Take a Look at Yourself in the
Mirror and Ask Yourself...
Are you being true to
yourself?Take a good hard look at your
financial situation.Surprisingly, this
can be very difficult to do.One reason
so many people are in deep trouble over their credit card debt is partly because
they've looked the other way, ignored the problem and decided not to address
it.Psychologists have a word for what
happens when you are faced with a major problem and you refuse to believe that
you are in trouble.The word is
DENIAL!Be true to yourself.Take action now, and confront your credit
card debt, TODAY!
Check Your Credit Report for Any
Errors.
Believe it or not, up to 40% of
all credit reports contain errors.You
should check your credit report with all 3 credit bureaus at least once a
year.If you find that your credit
report contains errors, you will need to dispute the errors by sending a
dispute letter to each credit bureau.The credit bureaus are required to investigate all disputes.This can involve a lot of time and effort on
your part, but in the long run it will be more than worth it.And, it is now easy to get your credit report
from all 3 bureaus.You are entitled to
one free credit report once every 12 months.But be careful, there are a lot of sites that claim to offer
free credit reports. In reality, the only way you can receive a free credit report from them is to sign up for a credit monitoring service that charges you a monthly fee. Now that's not really a FREE credit report. The site you need
is:www.annualcreditreport.com.This is the only free credit report website
authorized by Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Devise a Plan to Get Out of Debt
Whether you are determined to pay
your bills down a little at a time, take a second job, go to credit counseling,
or file for bankruptcy, you need to come up with a plan that you can stick with
and that will eventually eliminate your debt.If you devise the right plan, before you know it, you will be debt free!
Don't Run from Your Creditors,
Instead Talk with Them
You probably already know this;
Creditors want their money.If you are
behind on your bills, you are probably receiving phone calls from the credit
card companies numerous times a day.The
creditors do not want you to default on your credit card bills.In fact, most credit card companies will work
with you to get a reduced payment schedule.This will stop the daily phone calls.There is a catch, you need to stick to the new negotiated payment
schedule, if you start to miss payments again, they will be reluctant to work
with you again.
Have Patience
Have you heard the saying
"time heals all wounds"?It
also heals your credit.After 7 years,
most negative items will be dropped from your credit report.This is good news if you are working to
improve your credit.As each year
passes, more and more negative items will disappear from your credit
report.Remember, during this time, you
will need to continue to pay your bills on time and not receive any new
negative items on your credit report.
