Reducing Your Unsecured Debt

A recent survey showed that more than 2 million people in the
UK had unsecured debt of more than £10,000 (approximately
$16,000). As you can imagine most of this debt is held on Store
and Credit Cards, which are quite often the most expensive form
of unsecured debt an individual can acquire.

How manageable this debt is, is often down to the individual's
circumstances. One thing for sure is that when borrowing you
want to aim to reduce the amount of interest that you pay on
any outstanding debt. Here are a few tips to achieve this.

1. Pay off expensive debt first

Unsecured lending is by far the most expensive borrowing and if
you have a number of cards, some probably charge higher interest
rates than others. If you are not paying off the full balance of
your credit card each month, aim to pay more off the most
expensive cards.

2. Transfer expensive debt to cheaper cards

There's a lot of competition out there. Many credit cards have
introductory offers with either low or zero interest rates.
Transfer your balances from your old card to these new cards.
Remember to close your old credit card accounts to remove
temptation. It is a well known fact that many people don't
close their old accounts and then rack up more debt on both the
old and new accounts.

3. When you've cleared some debt, try not to borrow more

When you've cleared your credit card balances, try to get into
the habit of only spending what you earn. Stop using the cards
and to remove temptation cut them up. It pays to disciplined.
Remember you're trying to reduce debt. The best thing to do is
to create a budget for yourself and pay for everything with
cash.

Obviously this isn't an exhaustive list, but if you follow
these tips it will be a positive move in the right direction.


About The Author: Ian Walsh is the webmaster at information on Finance,
Gambling and Self-Help.