Recently, I came across a magazine from the year 1992. Flipping my way through trans-fat laden recipes, silly fashions, and super big hairstyles, I had a jolly laugh. That is until I found an article about reducing personal credit card debt. I assumed debt relief methods would have changed considering the two very different economic pictures between now and then. Such a contrast in the financial market would result in different approaches to debt relief, right?

It may be hard to believe, but the methods used for getting your card debt under control hasn’t changed very much at all since 1992. Surprised? The economy has changed, so why hasn’t getting out of debt significantly changed, too?

The basic principles of financial freedom don’t change over time. Live within your means and put some money aside each month. Throughout the last 10 to 15 years we have become a credit card dependent people, using credit cards for ordinary, everyday items.

I suspect that in 1992 an article about debt relief didn’t get as much attention as the clothing and hairstyle articles. But, today, more and more people are seeking sound advice on methods to manage their own freedom from credit card debt.

So, what are the basic strategies for a family like yours to get rid of their credit card debt for once and for all? Briefly outlined, here are the steps you need to follow to get on the right track. Amazingly, these 6 steps are just as true today as they were back in 1992:

1) Cut Up Your Credit Cards - Painful as this may be, it’s a crucial first step. Start by cutting up in-store credit cards and work your way up to your major credit cards, then stop. You want to keep one major credit card, meaning a Visa, Master Card, American Express, and the like, for the purpose of booking flights, hotel rooms, and for emergencies. Review your remaining major credit cards, determine which has the lowest interest rate, with no annual fee, and keep that one card. Now, cut up the remaining cards.

2) Figure Out Your Financial Bottom Line - Time to look at the money you have coming into your household. You need to develop a basic budget before you go on. Take what’s spent on household necessities each month, like housing, food, clothing, heat, and so forth. Subtract that from your monthly take-home pay. You have now figured out what you have left to send your creditors. You need to have this information before you go any further, so, sit down now with paper and pencil and figure out your disposable income.

3) Take a Deep Breath and Call Your Creditors - This is the step that is the most unnerving, but it’s necessary if you want to achieve your goal of credit card freedom. Gather the last month’s statements from all your credit cards. Call the customer service number and tell the credit card company employee that you want to pay off your debt, but cannot afford to make the monthly payments as they are currently set. Ask for lower interest rate and reversal of late fees. Credit card companies are negotiating, but you need to be firm.

4) Time For Sacrifice - We all love it when we get our income tax refund, or a bonus at work, or what we call “found money.” I hate to be a wet blanket here but, every extra penny you have must be used to pay down your debt if you expect your plan to work. Anytime you “find” money, think about how many times that money is “lost” again when you pay interest on an unpaid credit card balance. You’ll get a faster return on that found money when you use it to pay down a debt.

5) Stick With Your Plan - It may take a year or more to see real gains with your plan. No matter what the commercials say, you can NOT significantly pay down your credit card debt in six months if you have a substantial debt. Consider how much time it took to accumulate the debt and realize you won’t be able to erase it in the same amount of time. However, with determination, after about six months you should start to see some relief. When you see those balances start dropping finally, don’t get restless and start splurging again. If you need a reminder of what just one splurge could cost you, go back and add up all the interest you paid on your credit card. That information should keep you on the straight and narrow.

6) Very Carefully Check Into Debt Consultants - Something that has changed since the 1990’s is the use of credit card debt consultants. Countless debt relief companies are vying for your business, offering to take you quickly and painlessly out of your debt struggle. Debt consultants must be considered and investigated very carefully as they often end up costing you more than if you set up a payment plan directly with your creditors. Interview any debt consultant you may want to hire in person. When you discuss your debt with them, did you feel you were being listened to and you got answers to the questions you asked, or did they just tell you everything was going to be “fine.” Be sure you know all the details including their percentage taken from your payment, any other fees involved. Talk with people you know and trust, as well as the Better Business Bureau. You could be worse off with a debt consultant than without one, so do your homework.

Debt management isn’t much different now than it was in the 1990’s. Our elders handled their finances much more wisely than some of us did; don’t spend it if you don’t have it and save some money every month. In the last decade, credit has been loose and easy for some of us. Many of us have fallen into this hole through no fault of our own. Regardless of how it happened, we now find ourselves in a personal credit crunch. Credit card debt relief can be achieved if you have the fortitude to stick to these strategies. It won’t happen overnight, but you will reach your goal if you hang in there, and sleep more peacefully for your efforts!

Debt consolidation is a method that is used to reduce the severity of the debts that you may have incurred over a period of time. Under this method, you can take a single loan to clear all the debts that you owe to different creditors.

Once you do this, you need not worry about multiple repayments every month. You can also forget about harassment calls from creditors, and focus all your energies on making one payment a month.

Debt consolidation may sound like a great idea but you need to be careful when making the decision. Some debt consolidation programs can come at a pretty high price, so high that they may cost you money rather than help you save it. So you need to look at a consolidation offer carefully before making a decision.

This negotiation comes at a price, and you need to do some research before engaging such a firm. This is because some firms charge very high amounts as service fees, a fact which a debt-pressed individual often fails to take into account. You must remember that if the firm saves you more money than it charges you, then it is a good deal.

You can consolidate your debt without taking out a consolidation loan. You can do this by doing balance transfers of your many credit balances into one account. Your goal is to wipe out the balances on any accounts charging a high rate of interest. Also having one interest payment instead of several will always result in a savings.

A consolidation loan that will take care of all the outstanding debt you have will most likely have to be a secured loan. Because the lender is taking a lower risk your interest rate will be better. However, the assets your use to secure the loan will be at risk, so this is something to consider seriously. You want to be sure that you can make the payments on this loan and that there is no danger that you may default on the loan.

When you are buried in debt you are ready to grab at any ray of hope. However, there are some debt consolidation deals that are only going to make your situation worse. You really have to stop and think about what you are doing before you leap into something hoping for a quick fix. Put everything down on paper so that you can determine if consolidating will be a good decision in the long run. Once you look at the big picture you can make a better decision.

Consolidating your debt is an important part of managing your debt. Of equal importance is making the payments that result from your consolidation.

Many people have allowed their debt to grow to the point that they can no longer handle it. This creates a snowball affect. When a debtor is unable to repay the debt, than interest charges compile and long with penalties. This makes the challenge of paying the debt that much harder.

One common suggestion for breaking this vicious circle is to employ debt consolidation. For thousands, this has seemed like the way out, the way back to financial health. But there are pros and cons to debt consolidation, no matter what form it takes. Being aware of those will help you decide if it is the salvation in your particular circumstances.

What does it mean to consolidate your debt? It is very simple. You turn your multiple debt into one debt and make one monthly payment to one lending institution.

However for this to be beneficial some factors come into play. If your single payment adds up to the same amount as your multiple payments you haven’t benefitted yourself at all. Since most of us utilize the internet to pay our bills, you won’t even save on the cost of checks of postage.

In order for debt consolidation to be useful one or more of the following has to occur: (1) either the total monthly payment has to decrease , or, (2) the net amount of interest has to decrease, or, (3) the actual total debt has to go down as a result of consolidation. Which, if any, of these take place depends on the specific debt consolidation plan you have planned.

Best case scenario is for all three to be the case, but this is rarely possible. Normally there is a decrease in your monthly payment. This is helpful because it gives you the ability to meet the payment obligations every month.

That helps prevent piling more debt (interest and late charges) onto existing debt. You also have a much more relaxed frame of mind, knowing you can meet the monthly debt obligation without sacrificing other needed items.

The risk is that if the payment is too low, some of the psychological factors that led to excessive debt in the first place can rise again. Thinking you have lots to spare can cause you to relax too much too soon. Continual worry is not healthy, commitment and concern are - if your goal is to become debt free.

Even though so called financial experts may sometimes disagree, the fact remains that credit is not something that is inherently bad. The problem is not the credit itself but rather the improper or uncontrolled use of credit. If you find that you have this problem you should not feel like you are the only one. In fact, the country itself has this problem. When national bills cannot be paid, the country extends credit lines that it has with different financial institutions.

Unfortunately, getting credit card debt advice that is beneficial in real world situations is not easy since many people who offer such advice have rather fanatical ideas. Anyone who suggests that people should not have or use credit cards at all simply is not being realistic. Consider the following tips that are designed to be useful in the real world.

Limit Yourself to Just One

Some of the absolute best advice available related to credit card debt is to join a credit union if you have not done so already. Then, request a credit card from them that has a moderately sized credit limit.

The credit union won’t raise your limit without you asking and for the most part a credit union will keep their interest rate at around 10% or less. If you can keep your life to just this one card then you will be fine. If you need an increase then ask for it but try and use cash when you can.

Emergency Back Up

The idea of buying something now and paying for it later is simply too tempting; everyone will make some kind of foolish purchase on their credit card at least once. It is important, though, that you do not allow this to become a habit. Keep your credit card to be used as an emergency back up plan, not the first line of attack.

Make sure you have the necessary funds to pay for it when you give into the temptation to use your credit card to make a slightly irresponsible purchase. Remember, though, that you do not have a credit card to use that way. Its only for back up.

Credit card companies have learned that most students earn very little income and thus market lots of credit cards specifically to them, trying to get them to rack up credit card debt. Students should do all they can to avoid getting into credit card debt.

Credit Card Debt: Alternatives for Students

Despite the ploys that the credit card companies use in an attempt to snag students, there are ways for students to effectively prevent themselves from getting into credit card debt while still being able to care for all their necessary expenses related to their college education.

If you, as a student, find yourself in need of some extra funds to pay for necessities, you may be able to appeal to some of your family members for help. Explain to them that by loaning you some money you will be able to avoid getting into credit card debt. Speaking with your parents about reworking your budget could also be beneficial. Your parents will probably be willing to loan you money at a reasonable rate in order to keep you out of debt with a credit card company.

Students can also use student loans to pay for expenses if their family is not able to support them financially. University financial aid offices are sure to provide you with some potential alternatives to racking up credit card debt.

You may find that you can borrow funds in addition to your expenses for tuition, fees, and books on your student loans. Student loans are generally financed at a lower interest rate than credit card debt, and some tax deductions may be available when you repay your student loans. Consult a licensed tax preparer to answer any questions you have about reducing student credit card debt by borrowing more money on your student loans.

You can get a part-time job if you need to boost you income in order to stay out of debt associated with student credit cards. Colleges often offer part-time jobs that you may be able to get that will not conflict with your class schedule. A part-time job might even lead to a full-time job after you have graduated.

It would be wise on your part to consider all possible alternatives before taking on student credit card debt.

There are lots of options out there for those of us who are too far in debt. There is credit counseling and debt consolidation. There are lawyers offering to have your debt reduced for a fee, and in extreme cases, there is bankruptcy. With all of these choices, one might imagine that it’s impossible for a person to get out of debt on his own.

People can in fact eliminate their debts independently, with no outside assistance. Though it does require certain measures of determination and willpower, many folks are surprised to learn that what they considered to be an overly tight budget is actually flexible enough to help them pay off debt.

How do I get out of debt on my own?

Are you too far in debt? If so, in order to get out of debt on your own you will need to develop a plan and stick to it. Here is a good plan to follow:

1. Stop accruing new debt. Don’t take out new loans, forget about refinancing old ones, and stop using credit cards.

2. Create a budget. Find out what happens to your money every month by writing down all expenses in a budget. That way you’ll find possible sources of money to use in debt payment.

3. Remove unnecessary things from your budget while simultaneously reducing the amount you spent on everything. The money you save should be used for paying off debts.

4. Figure out which of your debts should be eliminated first. Secure debts and debts with high interest payments should be attended to ahead of others. Beware of low interest credit cards that have other high charges like annual and monthly fees. Any such lines of credit should be done away with as soon as possible.

5. Pay the minimum payment each month on all of your debts except the one that you have given top priority. Put all of your extra funds toward that debt, and continue to do so until it is paid off. If you get a bonus at work or unexpected money from some other source, consider putting it toward your debt as well.

6. When one debt is paid off, don’t stop there. Move on to the next and don’t give up until all have been dissolved.

Having a realistic view of finances can help you to get out of debt on your own, without help from any outside institutions. Eliminating debt in such a way helps improve bad credit or, if your credit is already good, keep it at a desirable level.

Debt is a stressful thing for many people - some can get things under control themselves while others need assistance. For many people, one of the most effective ways of getting their debt under control is to use a debt consolidation loan.

Fortunately, over the last several years, finding one of these loans has become much easier thanks to the internet.

All the tools you need to find a loan are available to you on the internet. There are lots of websites where you can research loans, and even more general information about getting debt under control. You can compare loans from various sources to find the best interest rate and most effective terms.

Once you find the best deal, you can usually apply for a loan directly on their website. You’ll need to have all the necessary personal information handy - basically the same as you would need if applying at your bank or somewhere else in person.

You’ll need all your debt accounts - credit cards, department store accounts, etc. - and the current balance on each. You’ll also need your employment details and possibly information about the security you can use for the loan, such as your home or vehicles. In most cases, you will have a response very quickly.

Once you’ve been approved for a debt consolidation loan, the load provider will pay off each of your debt on your behalf. This leaves you with a single payment and a single loan to deal with, instead of many different ones.

This single loan normally has a much lower interest rate than all the other ones (especially credit cards) and it is easier to manage a single payment every month.

Before you make your decision on which loan company you want to use, call their customer service department and ask a few questions. Make sure their customer service is easy to reach and knowledgable about their services. You don’t want to find out they aren’t very helpful after you’ve already signed up with them.