Feb08
How to Cope with your Holiday Credit Card Bills
You swear you wouldn’t do it, but here you are again, looking at your pile of holiday bills and grimacing at the thought of repaying your debts.
Don’t let your holiday bills bog you down all year long. Take care of them now so that you can begin enjoying a debt-free 2010.
The following tips will help you formulate a plan to pay off your holiday bills:
- Carefully review all of your credit card bills – Because there is likely a lot of activity on your credit cards from the holidays, you will want to thoroughly examine all of the charges on your credit card statements. It is not uncommon to spot errors, so the earlier you catch them, the better.
- Assemble all of your credit card statements and write down the balances, the minimum payment amounts and the interest rates on all of your cards – The general rule of thumb is to concentrate on the credit card with the highest interest rate first, so consider something like this: pay the minimum payment on all of your credit cards, with the exception of the credit card with the highest interest rate, as you will want to put as much money as possible onto this card until it is paid off. Then, do the same thing with the rest of your credit cards.
- If you have strong credit, consider consolidating all of your holiday credit card bills onto one, low-interest credit card. Pay close attention, though to the terms of the balance transfer offer, and check out the balance transfer fee.
- If you find yourself drowning in credit card debt, don’t wait to seek help. Instead, find a reputable, non-profit consumer credit counseling service. These organizations can help negotiate lower rates and more reasonable repayment terms, particularly if you are struggling to simply pay the minimum payments on your credit cards.
